WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.879 a sack apple podcast title the deep dive kempsville 00:00:03.879 --> 00:00:07.440 va from colonial port to virginia beach sprawl 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:09.779 hidden history and revolutionary war secrets 00:00:09.779 --> 00:00:13.320 apple podcast description think you know suburban 00:00:13.320 --> 00:00:16.179 virginia beach Think again. We uncover the forgotten 00:00:16.179 --> 00:00:18.600 history of Kempsville, Virginia, from a colonial 00:00:18.600 --> 00:00:20.600 shipping hub and the site of the first American 00:00:20.600 --> 00:00:23.300 Revolutionary War casualties in Virginia, to 00:00:23.300 --> 00:00:25.980 a modern landscape of shopping centers and subdivisions. 00:00:26.519 --> 00:00:29.460 Explore Lord Dunmore's loyalist stronghold, a 00:00:29.460 --> 00:00:32.380 panicked 1812 road trip to save county records, 00:00:32.619 --> 00:00:36.320 and how explosive 1960s suburban sprawl buried 00:00:36.320 --> 00:00:39.520 18th century architecture. Keywords, Kempsville, 00:00:39.679 --> 00:00:41.679 Virginia Beach, Kemps Landing, Revolutionary 00:00:41.679 --> 00:00:44.630 War History, Princess Anne County, Dunmore, Virginia 00:00:44.630 --> 00:00:46.869 history. Think you know suburban Virginia Beach. 00:00:46.990 --> 00:00:49.890 Think again. Welcome to another Deep Dive. I'm 00:00:49.890 --> 00:00:52.630 your host and today we are we're heading straight 00:00:52.630 --> 00:00:54.030 into the heart of a place you might have driven 00:00:54.030 --> 00:00:55.890 through a hundred times. Oh absolutely. Hundreds 00:00:55.890 --> 00:00:57.670 of times without even realizing it. Right. Without 00:00:57.670 --> 00:00:59.890 realizing the sheer volume of history buried 00:00:59.890 --> 00:01:01.750 right under your tires. Yeah. We are talking 00:01:01.750 --> 00:01:04.090 about Kempsville, Virginia. A truly fascinating 00:01:04.090 --> 00:01:07.390 case study. It really is. From a bustling colonial 00:01:07.390 --> 00:01:11.510 port. to what is basically the absolute epitome 00:01:11.510 --> 00:01:14.689 of Virginia Beach suburban sprawl. We are going 00:01:14.689 --> 00:01:16.969 to uncover the hidden history and, you know, 00:01:17.049 --> 00:01:19.829 Revolutionary War secrets that are literally 00:01:19.829 --> 00:01:22.510 paved over by modern life. And to do that, we're 00:01:22.510 --> 00:01:24.530 drawing from a really comprehensive source today. 00:01:24.730 --> 00:01:27.909 Yeah, exactly. Today's source material is a detailed 00:01:27.909 --> 00:01:30.670 historical and demographic overview of Kempsville 00:01:30.670 --> 00:01:33.760 from Wikipedia. And our mission for this deep 00:01:33.760 --> 00:01:37.739 dive is to unearth how this tiny 17th century 00:01:37.739 --> 00:01:40.400 river settlement transformed into the massive 00:01:40.400 --> 00:01:42.099 borough you see today. We're going to find the 00:01:42.099 --> 00:01:43.939 literal battlegrounds sitting underneath your 00:01:43.939 --> 00:01:46.140 local shopping centers. Okay, let's unpack this. 00:01:46.239 --> 00:01:48.939 Because the contrast between modern -day Kempsville 00:01:48.939 --> 00:01:51.400 with its high schoolers, the subdivisions, the 00:01:51.400 --> 00:01:53.000 Christian Broadcasting Network headquarters, 00:01:53.319 --> 00:01:56.459 and its wild colonial origins as Kemps Landing 00:01:56.459 --> 00:01:59.950 is just staggering. When you look closely at 00:01:59.950 --> 00:02:01.810 Kempsville, you're really looking at a masterclass 00:02:01.810 --> 00:02:04.349 in how American landscapes evolve. It shows us 00:02:04.349 --> 00:02:06.709 how geography dictates destiny and how rapid 00:02:06.709 --> 00:02:08.990 modern growth can erase physical history almost 00:02:08.990 --> 00:02:10.629 overnight. It's like it was just wiped clean. 00:02:11.009 --> 00:02:14.349 Precisely. Exploring the single geographic footprint 00:02:14.349 --> 00:02:17.490 reminds us that the places we consider just, 00:02:17.590 --> 00:02:21.669 you know, everyday, quiet suburbs. They're usually 00:02:21.669 --> 00:02:24.509 built on layers and layers of complex, highly 00:02:24.509 --> 00:02:27.430 volatile human experiences. So to really understand 00:02:27.430 --> 00:02:31.909 this place, you have to sort of wipe away the 00:02:31.909 --> 00:02:33.870 modern pavement in your mind. Right, take away 00:02:33.870 --> 00:02:35.810 the strip malls. Yeah, take away the traffic 00:02:35.810 --> 00:02:37.930 lights and go all the way back to the 1600s. 00:02:37.930 --> 00:02:40.349 Picture this guy, George Kempe. He's a highly 00:02:40.349 --> 00:02:43.210 industrious English immigrant. Exactly. He acquires 00:02:43.210 --> 00:02:45.289 a chunk of land right along the eastern branch 00:02:45.289 --> 00:02:47.840 of the Elizabeth River. and he decides he's going 00:02:47.840 --> 00:02:50.819 to turn this muddy riverbank into a major commercial 00:02:50.819 --> 00:02:53.319 port. Which was a bold move at the time. Really 00:02:53.319 --> 00:02:55.740 bold. He starts shipping out tobacco and other 00:02:55.740 --> 00:02:58.240 goods, and the place officially becomes known 00:02:58.240 --> 00:03:01.139 as Kempe's Landing. But looking through the sources, 00:03:01.180 --> 00:03:03.039 there's this one detail about the early real 00:03:03.039 --> 00:03:05.180 estate of this town that completely blew my mind. 00:03:05.319 --> 00:03:08.419 Oh, the auction rules. Yes. They laid Kempe's 00:03:08.419 --> 00:03:10.699 Landing out into half -acre lots, advertised 00:03:10.699 --> 00:03:12.939 them in the Virginia Gazette, and sold them at 00:03:12.939 --> 00:03:15.340 public auction. But there was a massive catch. 00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:17.939 The build it or lose it clause. Right. It was 00:03:17.939 --> 00:03:20.419 strict. If you bought a lot, you had exactly 00:03:20.419 --> 00:03:22.560 three years to build a dwelling house on it. 00:03:22.580 --> 00:03:24.680 And the rules stated the house had to be at least 00:03:24.680 --> 00:03:28.840 20 feet square. absolutely had to have a brick 00:03:28.840 --> 00:03:30.780 chimney. Which is so interesting because this 00:03:30.780 --> 00:03:33.879 wasn't just some arbitrary colonial homeowners 00:03:33.879 --> 00:03:37.020 association rule. It sounds like an HOA from 00:03:37.020 --> 00:03:39.400 hell. It kind of does, but it was actually a 00:03:39.400 --> 00:03:42.840 highly sophisticated, deliberate anti -speculation 00:03:42.840 --> 00:03:45.620 tool. Anti -speculation, like to stop investors. 00:03:46.060 --> 00:03:48.960 Exactly. Early American colonies were incredibly 00:03:48.960 --> 00:03:51.800 fragile economically. They could not afford to 00:03:51.800 --> 00:03:54.539 have wealthy investors from overseas just buying 00:03:54.539 --> 00:03:57.439 up prime riverfront land and letting it sit empty, 00:03:57.580 --> 00:03:59.659 just hoping the value would go up over time. 00:03:59.759 --> 00:04:02.060 Oh, that makes sense. Yeah. They needed a functioning, 00:04:02.159 --> 00:04:05.500 populated port town to survive, forcing buyers 00:04:05.500 --> 00:04:08.620 to build substantial structures like a 20 -foot 00:04:08.620 --> 00:04:11.419 square home with a brick chimney guaranteed rapid 00:04:11.419 --> 00:04:13.860 permanent development. And it definitely worked. 00:04:14.020 --> 00:04:16.180 You had tugs and two -masted scooters regularly 00:04:16.180 --> 00:04:18.680 sailing into Kempsville. There was even a large 00:04:18.680 --> 00:04:20.540 drawbridge crossing the eastern branch of the 00:04:20.540 --> 00:04:22.800 Elizabeth River. Right around where the much 00:04:22.800 --> 00:04:25.220 smaller Princess Anne Road Bridge crosses today. 00:04:25.439 --> 00:04:27.379 But I was looking at the notes on the local economy 00:04:27.379 --> 00:04:28.740 and there's something that just didn't make sense 00:04:28.740 --> 00:04:32.139 to me. Kempsville was supposedly this big tobacco 00:04:32.139 --> 00:04:34.439 port, right? That was the reputation, yes. Up 00:04:34.439 --> 00:04:38.399 until 1861, it had a massive tobacco warehouse. 00:04:39.040 --> 00:04:41.300 They even paid an official tobacco inspector 00:04:41.300 --> 00:04:44.639 a salary of 35 pounds a year. Which was a good 00:04:44.639 --> 00:04:47.800 salary. Yeah. But the sources also clearly say 00:04:47.800 --> 00:04:50.920 the sandy soil in Princess Anne County was terrible 00:04:50.920 --> 00:04:54.060 for growing tobacco. So how does an entire port 00:04:54.060 --> 00:04:56.399 operate on a crop it can't even successfully 00:04:56.399 --> 00:04:59.620 grow? What's fascinating here is how early colonial 00:04:59.620 --> 00:05:02.360 economies had to adapt to strict environmental 00:05:02.360 --> 00:05:05.160 realities. Because the local sandy soil made 00:05:05.160 --> 00:05:07.819 very little headway as a tobacco producer, the 00:05:07.819 --> 00:05:10.500 town commodified the idea of the crop instead 00:05:10.500 --> 00:05:13.459 of the crop itself. Wait, the idea of the crop? 00:05:13.540 --> 00:05:16.040 Yeah, they used the tobacco warehouse receipts 00:05:16.040 --> 00:05:18.579 as actual physical currency. You're kidding. 00:05:18.819 --> 00:05:20.920 Not at all. You could walk into a tavern or a 00:05:20.920 --> 00:05:22.980 shop and pay for things with a piece of paper 00:05:22.980 --> 00:05:25.139 saying you had tobacco stored in the Kempsville 00:05:25.139 --> 00:05:28.029 warehouse? That is wild. It was an ingenious 00:05:28.029 --> 00:05:32.310 system. It facilitated robust local trade, which 00:05:32.310 --> 00:05:35.149 then allowed them to pivot their actual physical 00:05:35.149 --> 00:05:38.350 exports to what the land and geography actually 00:05:38.350 --> 00:05:41.110 supported. So if tobacco wasn't growing, they 00:05:41.110 --> 00:05:43.689 were leaning heavily into timber and food. Exactly. 00:05:43.850 --> 00:05:45.910 Princess Anne County became a massive producer 00:05:45.910 --> 00:05:49.129 of corn and wheat. And the timber industry along 00:05:49.129 --> 00:05:51.389 the riverbanks was huge. And we should keep in 00:05:51.389 --> 00:05:53.790 mind, the river was much wider and deeper back 00:05:53.790 --> 00:05:55.949 then. Oh, entirely different waterways than today. 00:05:56.110 --> 00:05:58.209 Right. They were shitting out all kinds of timber, 00:05:58.290 --> 00:06:00.870 including great quantities of oak knees, straight 00:06:00.870 --> 00:06:04.009 to the Norfolk Navy Yard. And for context, oak 00:06:04.009 --> 00:06:06.949 knees are those naturally curved, L -shaped pieces 00:06:06.949 --> 00:06:09.730 of wood. You take them from where the trunk of 00:06:09.730 --> 00:06:12.089 an oak tree meets a large branch or down at the 00:06:12.089 --> 00:06:14.290 roots. Because the grain is naturally curved. 00:06:14.550 --> 00:06:16.709 Exactly. The continuous grain makes them incredibly 00:06:16.709 --> 00:06:19.310 strong. They were absolutely critical for the 00:06:19.310 --> 00:06:21.230 structural integrity of wood and shipbuilding. 00:06:21.569 --> 00:06:24.250 By supplying these to the Navy Yard, Kempsville 00:06:24.250 --> 00:06:26.970 completely pivoted from a struggling cash crop 00:06:26.970 --> 00:06:30.470 town into a vital strategic supply chain hub 00:06:30.470 --> 00:06:32.819 for shipping and agriculture. Which perfectly 00:06:32.819 --> 00:06:35.920 brings us to a dramatic turn in our story. Because 00:06:35.920 --> 00:06:38.600 of that strategic importance, Kempsville wasn't 00:06:38.600 --> 00:06:41.480 destined to stay a quiet, pragmatic port town. 00:06:41.600 --> 00:06:43.800 No, it certainly was not. When the political 00:06:43.800 --> 00:06:46.899 winds began to shift in the 1770s, this place 00:06:46.899 --> 00:06:49.139 became ground zero for the American Revolution 00:06:49.139 --> 00:06:52.939 in Virginia. To set the stage for you, we have 00:06:52.939 --> 00:06:55.779 to introduce a man named George Logan. George 00:06:55.779 --> 00:06:58.579 Logan was a Scottish immigrant who wielded an 00:06:58.579 --> 00:07:00.959 immense amount of power in Princess Anne County. 00:07:01.240 --> 00:07:05.500 From 1762 to 1770, he was the high sheriff. So 00:07:05.500 --> 00:07:07.220 he's basically running the local law enforcement. 00:07:07.420 --> 00:07:11.939 And the courts. From 1772 to 1775, he served 00:07:11.939 --> 00:07:14.899 as one of the county justices. But when the whispers 00:07:14.899 --> 00:07:17.819 of revolution started turning into actual armed 00:07:17.819 --> 00:07:21.079 rebellion, George Logan drew a very clear line 00:07:21.079 --> 00:07:23.459 in the sand. He was fiercely loyal to the crown. 00:07:23.699 --> 00:07:26.180 Fiercely. And that simmering tension finally 00:07:26.180 --> 00:07:30.199 snapped in November of 1775, specifically November 00:07:30.199 --> 00:07:33.759 14th or 15th. This is the Battle of Kemp's Landing. 00:07:34.019 --> 00:07:37.060 A pivotal moment. Lord Dunmore, the royal governor 00:07:37.060 --> 00:07:39.680 of the colony of Virginia. leads British forces 00:07:39.680 --> 00:07:43.680 in a direct clash with the local colonial militia. 00:07:43.699 --> 00:07:46.560 And it was an absolute disaster for the locals. 00:07:46.680 --> 00:07:48.660 It was a rattle. Seven militiamen were killed 00:07:48.660 --> 00:07:51.819 by Dunmore's forces. And the historical weight 00:07:51.819 --> 00:07:55.360 of those seven deaths cannot be overstated. Those 00:07:55.360 --> 00:07:58.279 men killed at Kemp's Landing were the very first. 00:07:58.800 --> 00:08:01.139 american revolutionary war casualties in the 00:08:01.139 --> 00:08:04.100 entire state of virginia the very first in virginia 00:08:04.100 --> 00:08:07.040 yes and among them was a man named john akas 00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:09.879 his death carried significant political weight 00:08:09.879 --> 00:08:12.160 because he was the son of a former member of 00:08:12.160 --> 00:08:14.279 the virginia house of burgesses which was the 00:08:14.279 --> 00:08:16.519 first elected legislative dottie in colonial 00:08:16.519 --> 00:08:19.459 america right so this wasn't just a random skirmish 00:08:19.459 --> 00:08:22.360 it was a deeply political highly visible shedding 00:08:22.360 --> 00:08:24.259 of blood i'm still trying to wrap my head around 00:08:24.259 --> 00:08:26.360 the fact that the very first revolutionary casualties 00:08:26.360 --> 00:08:29.189 in virginia happened in what is now essentially 00:08:29.189 --> 00:08:31.509 a suburban neighborhood. It's hard to visualize 00:08:31.509 --> 00:08:34.230 when you're driving past a grocery store. Exactly. 00:08:34.370 --> 00:08:36.409 But here's where it gets really interesting. 00:08:37.169 --> 00:08:41.470 Because of this swift, brutal victory, Kempsville 00:08:41.470 --> 00:08:44.389 completely shifts overnight. It goes from being 00:08:44.389 --> 00:08:47.450 a hotbed of revolutionary militia to a secure, 00:08:47.669 --> 00:08:50.850 loyalist stronghold. The very next day, November 00:08:50.850 --> 00:08:54.529 16th, Lord Dunmore entered Kempsville in absolute 00:08:54.529 --> 00:08:57.649 triumph. He captured the colonial commander and 00:08:57.649 --> 00:08:59.610 proceeded to set up his military headquarters 00:08:59.610 --> 00:09:03.070 right inside the home of our loyalist high sheriff, 00:09:03.210 --> 00:09:05.730 George Logan. He just moved right into the sheriff's 00:09:05.730 --> 00:09:08.009 house. Logan actually entertained Lord Dunmore 00:09:08.009 --> 00:09:10.850 at his house after the battle, but Dunmore didn't 00:09:10.850 --> 00:09:13.769 stop at military occupation. He immediately engaged 00:09:13.769 --> 00:09:16.610 in psychological warfare. The loyalty oaths. 00:09:16.610 --> 00:09:19.129 Yes, he demanded loyalty oaths from the terrified 00:09:19.129 --> 00:09:40.789 locals. If you swore a le - It is a staggering 00:09:40.789 --> 00:09:44.850 level of psychological control. And yet its status 00:09:44.850 --> 00:09:47.870 as a stronghold actually elevates the town. Just 00:09:47.870 --> 00:09:50.830 a few years later, in 1778, the Princess Anne 00:09:50.830 --> 00:09:53.470 County Courthouse was moved from Newtown to Kemp's 00:09:53.470 --> 00:09:56.610 Landing. It officially became the county seat. 00:09:56.769 --> 00:09:59.470 And it remained the county seat from 1778 all 00:09:59.470 --> 00:10:02.330 the way until 1824. The town of Kempsville was 00:10:02.330 --> 00:10:06.049 even officially incorporated in 1783. But being 00:10:06.049 --> 00:10:08.710 a major hub during a maritime war isn't just 00:10:08.710 --> 00:10:11.850 about politics. It brings a really dark, chaotic 00:10:11.850 --> 00:10:14.950 reality to a town's daily life. The source material 00:10:14.950 --> 00:10:17.909 provides a snapshot of a single day that we need 00:10:17.909 --> 00:10:22.509 to talk about. I want to slow down for a second 00:10:22.509 --> 00:10:25.110 here because this specific day is incredibly 00:10:25.110 --> 00:10:27.809 sobering to read about. It perfectly illustrates 00:10:27.809 --> 00:10:30.509 the intersectional, brutal nature of a colonial 00:10:30.509 --> 00:10:33.169 war economy. On that single Tuesday in August, 00:10:33.350 --> 00:10:36.070 a public auction was held in Thamesville. Nine 00:10:36.070 --> 00:10:38.929 enslaved African people were sold. They had been 00:10:38.929 --> 00:10:41.029 captured by the Continental frigates Boston and 00:10:41.029 --> 00:10:43.809 Dean and transported to the port in a privateer 00:10:43.809 --> 00:10:46.409 vessel called the Enterprise. And to clarify 00:10:46.409 --> 00:10:48.570 for anyone who doesn't know, a privateer was 00:10:48.570 --> 00:10:51.169 essentially a state sponsored pirate ship. Legally 00:10:51.169 --> 00:10:54.009 authorized by a government to attack and capture 00:10:54.009 --> 00:10:57.049 enemy vessels during wartime. Right. And on that 00:10:57.049 --> 00:10:59.330 exact same day at the exact same public auction, 00:10:59.509 --> 00:11:02.429 a captured British sloop of war named the Mermaid 00:11:02.429 --> 00:11:05.409 was also sold off to the highest bidder. By order 00:11:05.409 --> 00:11:07.850 of the Admiralty Court out of Hampton? Human 00:11:07.850 --> 00:11:10.690 lives and captured warships auctioned off side 00:11:10.690 --> 00:11:13.509 by side in the same ledger on a Tuesday afternoon. 00:11:13.889 --> 00:11:17.250 It forces you to pause and look at what the commerce 00:11:17.250 --> 00:11:19.710 of war actually looked like in colonial Virginia. 00:11:20.159 --> 00:11:22.460 We often try to impartially report the facts 00:11:22.460 --> 00:11:25.179 from the source material, but it's vital to acknowledge 00:11:25.179 --> 00:11:27.879 that history isn't just battlefield glory. It 00:11:27.879 --> 00:11:31.139 was privateers, human trafficking, and the bureaucratic 00:11:31.139 --> 00:11:33.740 buying and selling of captured people and property. 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:36.779 Absolutely. The anxiety and chaos of that era 00:11:36.779 --> 00:11:39.419 lingered for decades, well past the end of the 00:11:39.419 --> 00:11:42.240 Revolution. Which brings us to a highly relatable, 00:11:42.340 --> 00:11:44.620 almost comedic administrative panic during the 00:11:44.620 --> 00:11:47.700 War of 1812. The Great Records Migration. Yes. 00:11:48.159 --> 00:11:51.419 In September of 1814, the Princess Anne County 00:11:51.419 --> 00:11:54.720 Court became absolutely terrified that the British 00:11:54.720 --> 00:11:56.720 were going to sail back up the river and destroy 00:11:56.720 --> 00:11:59.639 everything. A valid fear, given Washington, D 00:11:59.639 --> 00:12:02.620 .C. had just been burned. Very true. But their 00:12:02.620 --> 00:12:04.899 solution was to pack up all the critical county 00:12:04.899 --> 00:12:07.639 records and move them across the border, hiding 00:12:07.639 --> 00:12:09.960 them safely in North Carolina. They literally 00:12:09.960 --> 00:12:12.840 put their entire bureaucratic history into witness 00:12:12.840 --> 00:12:15.039 protection. And the threat eventually passes. 00:12:15.419 --> 00:12:18.090 But the records just sit there in hiding. It 00:12:18.090 --> 00:12:20.350 isn't until March of 1815 that the court finally 00:12:20.350 --> 00:12:22.529 says, hey, maybe we should tell the clerk to 00:12:22.529 --> 00:12:25.029 go get our laws and deeds back. And even then, 00:12:25.049 --> 00:12:29.129 it takes them until July 28th, 1815, to actually 00:12:29.129 --> 00:12:32.149 allocate the money to pay six men to go fetch 00:12:32.149 --> 00:12:34.090 them. They left their county records in another 00:12:34.090 --> 00:12:37.049 state for nearly a year. Unwinding a panicked 00:12:37.049 --> 00:12:39.649 wartime decision always takes layers of bureaucracy 00:12:39.649 --> 00:12:42.730 and funding. Eventually, though, the town settled 00:12:42.730 --> 00:12:46.399 into a different kind of rhythm. In 1824, the 00:12:46.399 --> 00:12:48.820 county seat was moved away to its current location 00:12:48.820 --> 00:12:51.759 at Princess Anne. And when a colonial town loses 00:12:51.759 --> 00:12:54.679 its county seat, it loses its political power. 00:12:54.980 --> 00:12:58.460 The politicians leave, the lawyers leave, the 00:12:58.460 --> 00:13:01.200 merchants follow the money. Over the next few 00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:03.899 decades, the bustling port began to silt up, 00:13:03.980 --> 00:13:06.340 the massive timber reserves were cleared out, 00:13:06.440 --> 00:13:09.279 and Kempsville slowly faded from a prominent 00:13:09.279 --> 00:13:12.639 maritime hub into a sleepy, forgotten farming 00:13:12.639 --> 00:13:15.440 village. But even as a quiet farming village, 00:13:15.720 --> 00:13:19.100 the history kept piling up. Nowhere is that more 00:13:19.100 --> 00:13:21.179 visible than at the Emanuel Episcopal Church. 00:13:21.659 --> 00:13:23.980 They completed construction on this church in 00:13:23.980 --> 00:13:27.259 July of 1843. On land donated by a man named 00:13:27.259 --> 00:13:29.700 David Walk. Right. Portions of the outer wall 00:13:29.700 --> 00:13:32.480 standing today are original to that 1843 construction. 00:13:33.039 --> 00:13:35.700 But the detail that stops you in your tracks 00:13:35.700 --> 00:13:38.659 is out in the church cemetery. It's a very striking 00:13:38.659 --> 00:13:41.529 detail. In the very same soil, resting just yards 00:13:41.529 --> 00:13:44.129 apart, you have the graves of nine veterans from 00:13:44.129 --> 00:13:46.309 the Civil War. The cemetery contains veterans 00:13:46.309 --> 00:13:48.409 from both the Confederate States Army and the 00:13:48.409 --> 00:13:51.029 United States Union Army, resting together in 00:13:51.029 --> 00:13:53.629 one local churchyard. It is a remarkably quiet, 00:13:53.870 --> 00:13:56.730 powerful symbol of a fractured country coming 00:13:56.730 --> 00:13:59.500 to rest in the same earth. And just to show how 00:13:59.500 --> 00:14:02.419 wildly diverse the history of this one plot of 00:14:02.419 --> 00:14:05.940 land is, that same cemetery holds a completely 00:14:05.940 --> 00:14:08.679 different era of American culture. This part 00:14:08.679 --> 00:14:12.259 is so fun. It is the final resting place of Alan 00:14:12.259 --> 00:14:15.000 Jones Gettle. Everyone around town called him 00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:17.659 Al Two -Gun Gettle. Two -Gun Gettle. Yeah. He 00:14:17.659 --> 00:14:20.000 was a local Kempsville boy who grew up pitching 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:22.279 on the local ball fields, fields that are actually 00:14:22.279 --> 00:14:24.399 preserved right nearby as Kepi's Landing Park 00:14:24.399 --> 00:14:27.769 today. And he didn't just play locally. No. Al 00:14:27.769 --> 00:14:29.850 went on to pitch for 10 years in Major League 00:14:29.850 --> 00:14:34.009 Baseball. Between 1945 and 55, he threw for the 00:14:34.009 --> 00:14:36.429 New York Yankees, the Cleveland Indians, and 00:14:36.429 --> 00:14:38.700 the Chicago White Sox. If we connect this to 00:14:38.700 --> 00:14:41.240 the bigger picture, Kempsville serves as an incredible, 00:14:41.399 --> 00:14:43.840 literal crossroads of the American experience. 00:14:44.159 --> 00:14:46.480 It really does. Within a very small geographical 00:14:46.480 --> 00:14:48.899 footprint, you have the bureaucratic records 00:14:48.899 --> 00:14:51.379 of a panicked local government, the casualties 00:14:51.379 --> 00:14:53.580 of the first revolutionary skirmish in Virginia, 00:14:53.639 --> 00:14:56.820 the combined graves of a divided nation, and 00:14:56.820 --> 00:14:59.940 a 20th century pop culture sports icon. All in 00:14:59.940 --> 00:15:02.779 one spot. But moving further into the 20th century. 00:15:03.340 --> 00:15:06.360 The source material describes a survey from 1922 00:15:06.360 --> 00:15:09.740 that paints an idyllic, almost unrecognizable 00:15:09.740 --> 00:15:12.039 picture of the town. A snapshot right before 00:15:12.039 --> 00:15:15.480 everything changed. Right. In 1922, the former 00:15:15.480 --> 00:15:18.000 courthouse and jail from the 1800s were still 00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:20.740 in use. The town was described as a beautiful 00:15:20.740 --> 00:15:23.320 little country village. It had two churches, 00:15:23.519 --> 00:15:26.720 a few general stores, and one modern brick school 00:15:26.720 --> 00:15:29.330 building. It was primarily a farming community 00:15:29.330 --> 00:15:32.110 blessed with extremely fertile land, growing 00:15:32.110 --> 00:15:35.809 potatoes, cotton, corn, and truck crops. It sounds 00:15:35.809 --> 00:15:40.539 incredibly peaceful. Then we hit 1963. 1963 was 00:15:40.539 --> 00:15:42.860 the turning point that erased almost all of the 00:15:42.860 --> 00:15:44.580 physical history we've been talking about. The 00:15:44.580 --> 00:15:47.299 massive merger. Yes. That was the year the small 00:15:47.299 --> 00:15:50.440 oceanfront resort city of Virginia Beach officially 00:15:50.440 --> 00:15:53.120 merged with the massive Princess Anne County 00:15:53.120 --> 00:15:56.320 to create the new independent city of Virginia 00:15:56.320 --> 00:15:58.860 Beach. Almost overnight, Kempsville went from 00:15:58.860 --> 00:16:00.879 a beautiful little country village to being one 00:16:00.879 --> 00:16:03.139 of seven boroughs in this newly formed massive 00:16:03.139 --> 00:16:06.809 city. Along with Bayside, Blackwater. Lynn Haven, 00:16:07.049 --> 00:16:09.990 Princess Anne, Pungo, and the Virginia Beach 00:16:09.990 --> 00:16:12.750 oceanfront. And with that merger came the explosive 00:16:12.750 --> 00:16:15.570 economic and suburban growth of the 1960s and 00:16:15.570 --> 00:16:18.889 70s. The population boomed and the demand for 00:16:18.889 --> 00:16:22.149 suburban housing and commercial space skyrocketed. 00:16:22.470 --> 00:16:25.889 Kempsville rapidly transformed into a sprawling 00:16:25.889 --> 00:16:28.809 suburban community. But the tragedy of this explosive 00:16:28.809 --> 00:16:32.129 sprawl is the total erasure of the architectural 00:16:32.129 --> 00:16:35.250 past. To make way for the widened roads, the 00:16:35.250 --> 00:16:37.450 parking lots, and the shopping centers, almost 00:16:37.450 --> 00:16:39.909 all of the important historical buildings in 00:16:39.909 --> 00:16:42.830 Kempsville were either moved or simply bulldozed 00:16:42.830 --> 00:16:44.769 into the earth. Out of everything we just talked 00:16:44.769 --> 00:16:47.190 about, the bustling port, the colonial houses 00:16:47.190 --> 00:16:49.870 with their strict brick chimneys, the old taverns 00:16:49.870 --> 00:16:52.070 where loyalists and revolutionaries drank, only 00:16:52.070 --> 00:16:54.149 two buildings remain from the Revolutionary War 00:16:54.149 --> 00:16:56.389 period today. Just two. You have the Carraway 00:16:56.389 --> 00:16:59.450 House, which was built in 1734, sitting quietly 00:16:59.450 --> 00:17:01.730 on South Wichita Road. And you have Pleasant 00:17:01.730 --> 00:17:04.680 Hall. built in 1779, everything else from that 00:17:04.680 --> 00:17:07.099 era is completely gone. Replaced entirely by 00:17:07.099 --> 00:17:09.660 the infrastructure of modern life. If you drive 00:17:09.660 --> 00:17:12.299 through Kempsville today, you don't see a colonial 00:17:12.299 --> 00:17:15.019 shipping port. You see major commercial hubs. 00:17:15.220 --> 00:17:17.680 You have Providence Square and Fairfield Shopping 00:17:17.680 --> 00:17:19.700 Center sitting directly across from each other 00:17:19.700 --> 00:17:22.779 at the busy intersection of Kempsville and Providence 00:17:22.779 --> 00:17:25.799 Roads. You have Kemps River Crossing. You have 00:17:25.799 --> 00:17:28.359 Woods Corner in West Kempsville. And remember 00:17:28.359 --> 00:17:31.880 that one single brick schoolhouse from the 1922 00:17:31.880 --> 00:17:34.799 survey. Oh, right. Today, the Kempsville community 00:17:34.799 --> 00:17:37.539 operates under the massive Virginia Beach City 00:17:37.539 --> 00:17:40.000 public school system with three high schools. 00:17:40.680 --> 00:17:44.329 Kempsville. Tallwood, and Salem, plus three middle 00:17:44.329 --> 00:17:47.750 schools, 10 elementary schools, and a Catholic 00:17:47.750 --> 00:17:49.750 high school. Not to mention Regent University, 00:17:50.250 --> 00:17:52.029 the Christian Broadcasting Network headquarters, 00:17:52.509 --> 00:17:55.150 the Founders Inn and Spa, and the Virginia Beach 00:17:55.150 --> 00:17:57.910 Theological Seminary. It is an incredibly dense, 00:17:58.089 --> 00:18:00.869 highly developed suburban hub, protected today 00:18:00.869 --> 00:18:03.329 by the 4th Police Precinct and multiple fire 00:18:03.329 --> 00:18:05.670 stations. But what is truly fascinating is how 00:18:05.670 --> 00:18:07.930 the modern demographics reflect the broader geographic 00:18:07.930 --> 00:18:10.900 changes of the Hampton Roads area. How so? The 00:18:10.900 --> 00:18:13.160 massive military presence in the surrounding 00:18:13.160 --> 00:18:16.559 region over the late 20th century drew incredibly 00:18:16.559 --> 00:18:19.640 diverse populations to these new suburbs. You 00:18:19.640 --> 00:18:21.819 really see that when you look at the micro demographic 00:18:21.819 --> 00:18:24.519 details in the source. Yeah, take Bellamy Woods, 00:18:24.640 --> 00:18:26.960 for example. It's a neighborhood with a child 00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:31.059 poverty rate in the lowest 0 .0 % of all neighborhoods. 00:18:31.299 --> 00:18:34.299 And over 86 % of the households speak English, 00:18:34.539 --> 00:18:38.519 but it also has a notable 7 .5 % Tagalog speaking 00:18:38.519 --> 00:18:40.789 population. Which reflects... the area's rich 00:18:40.789 --> 00:18:43.750 Filipino -American community, deeply tied to 00:18:43.750 --> 00:18:45.349 the history of the U .S. Navy and the region. 00:18:45.529 --> 00:18:47.109 Then you have the Point of View neighborhood, 00:18:47.369 --> 00:18:49.569 which is situated on the banks of Kemp's Lake. 00:18:49.809 --> 00:18:52.670 Kemp's Lake is so interesting. It's a 19 -foot 00:18:52.670 --> 00:18:55.450 -deep body of water where residents do water 00:18:55.450 --> 00:18:57.809 sports today. But do you know how it got there? 00:18:57.990 --> 00:19:01.369 It wasn't carved by nature. No. During the construction 00:19:01.369 --> 00:19:04.250 of the Interstate 264 Virginia Beach Expressway, 00:19:04.410 --> 00:19:07.390 engineers accidentally formed a 19 -foot -deep 00:19:07.390 --> 00:19:10.680 lake. It is the ultimate symbol of modern infrastructure 00:19:10.680 --> 00:19:13.299 permanently altering the physical landscape, 00:19:13.579 --> 00:19:16.359 just as the early colonists altered the riverbanks 00:19:16.359 --> 00:19:19.319 for their tobacco and timber ships. So what does 00:19:19.319 --> 00:19:21.259 this all mean? Think about your own commute tomorrow 00:19:21.259 --> 00:19:23.720 morning. We often just drive right on through. 00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:26.259 We drive through modern suburbs. We sit at endless 00:19:26.259 --> 00:19:28.720 stoplights next to strip malls. We cross highway 00:19:28.720 --> 00:19:30.980 overpasses and we complain about the traffic. 00:19:31.589 --> 00:19:34.329 But we do all of that without ever realizing 00:19:34.329 --> 00:19:37.490 we might be driving directly over 17th century 00:19:37.490 --> 00:19:40.569 colonial ports. Or the very first revolutionary 00:19:40.569 --> 00:19:44.049 battlegrounds of a state. Exactly. Or centuries 00:19:44.049 --> 00:19:48.730 of buried complex history. Kempsville is this 00:19:48.730 --> 00:19:51.690 massive, sprawling reminder to look closer at 00:19:51.690 --> 00:19:53.990 the seemingly ordinary subdivisions in your own 00:19:53.990 --> 00:19:56.710 town. The past is always right there, hiding 00:19:56.710 --> 00:19:58.890 just under the pavement. This raises an important 00:19:58.890 --> 00:20:01.150 question, and it's one of the greatest what -ifs 00:20:01.150 --> 00:20:03.089 from the source material to leave you with. I 00:20:03.089 --> 00:20:05.160 love this one. Decades before the Civil War, 00:20:05.299 --> 00:20:07.680 a canal company was actually incorporated and 00:20:07.680 --> 00:20:09.900 heavily backed by the Commonwealth of Virginia 00:20:09.900 --> 00:20:13.240 government. The grand plan was to dig a massive 00:20:13.240 --> 00:20:15.660 canal connecting the headwaters of the eastern 00:20:15.660 --> 00:20:18.319 branch of the Elizabeth River directly to the 00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:20.480 headwaters of the Lynnhaven River. But then the 00:20:20.480 --> 00:20:23.460 Civil War broke out. Right. The sheer physical 00:20:23.460 --> 00:20:26.119 effort and funding required for the digging stopped. 00:20:26.440 --> 00:20:29.660 The canal was abandoned and never finished. Think 00:20:29.660 --> 00:20:32.460 about the maritime logistics of that. If ships 00:20:32.460 --> 00:20:34.519 could have cut straight through Kempsville instead 00:20:34.519 --> 00:20:37.140 of navigating the dangerous coastal routes around 00:20:37.140 --> 00:20:39.720 Cape Henry, it would have completely altered 00:20:39.720 --> 00:20:42.460 the geography and the entire economy of modern 00:20:42.460 --> 00:20:44.720 -day Virginia Beach. Changed everything. Instead 00:20:44.720 --> 00:20:47.279 of a landlocked suburban sprawl of residential 00:20:47.279 --> 00:20:49.859 neighborhoods and shopping centers, Kempsville 00:20:49.859 --> 00:20:52.779 might have remained a massive, continuous maritime 00:20:52.779 --> 00:20:56.309 industrial seaport to this very day. It is a 00:20:56.309 --> 00:20:58.829 profound reminder of how a single historical 00:20:58.829 --> 00:21:01.910 event like the outbreak of a war can forever 00:21:01.910 --> 00:21:04.289 alter the physical shape of the cities we live 00:21:04.289 --> 00:21:06.809 in. It really makes you look at every strip mall 00:21:06.809 --> 00:21:09.130 and man -made lake a little differently. Thank 00:21:09.130 --> 00:21:10.950 you so much for joining us on this deep dive. 00:21:11.190 --> 00:21:13.589 Stay curious, keep looking past the obvious, 00:21:13.829 --> 00:21:16.609 and always keep questioning the history hidden 00:21:16.609 --> 00:21:18.890 right beneath your feet. We will see you next 00:21:18.890 --> 00:21:19.130 time.