Horsey cops! That's a sign of soul. Most big cities had horse cops until WW2. Chicago still had them in the '60s.
The persistence of horses in route driving might also be a measurement. Spokane had mail chariots until 1948, and Toronto had streamlined milk wagons in the '50s. The horse was an autonomous vehicle, letting the milkman focus on sorting and billing. The horse knew the route and the stops and some of the people.
I worked up in Surry (across the James River from Williamsburg for those that can’t place a town of 250 on a map) for a summer and loved headed down to Virginia Beach. I somehow messed up the directions of “just head down 264 until it ends” and ended up in Sandbridge which was not a bad thing by any stretch!
I feel obligated to push back on the idea that "white flight" had anything to do with the Virginia Beach-Princess Anne merger. This explanation seems like it came from someone who's familiar with the demographic history of places like Detroit / Cleveland / Newark but not the demographic history of anywhere in the South.
Norfolk has never been a majority black city; the closest it came in recent census years was 43% in 2000, declining to 39% at present.
More relevant to the merger decision is its black percentage at the 1960 census: about 25%. Moreover, that wasn't much different from Princess Anne County (16%), or from Norfolk County and the City of South Norfolk (25% and 23% respectively) which merged in 1963 to form the City of Chesapeake.
It's implausible that the mergers in the Hampton Roads region had any significant racial motivation. A more likely explanation is that the residents didn't want to risk being governed by something like an urban political machine (or just didn't want change in their local government at all).
I grew up in Va Beach and Chesapeake in the 80s, but left as soon as I could to go to college in NYC. I had attended an arts program in high school in downtown Norfolk, and had had a taste of a walkable urban lifestyle. Just before the pandemic I moved to a walkable neighborhood in DC after having two kids, and I honestly find visiting home to be a bit of a nightmare. My kids are bus and metro kids and never got used to being in a car for long (or short!) periods of time. Having to get in the car to do literally anything just does not compute for them. The Hampton Roads area has sprawled so much since I was a kid, and main roads that used to be daunting but manageable to cross in order to get to a playground on the other side have become 50mph highways. The car has become the organizing principle of life and, as someone once described to me, a paywall to doing anything.
We've been down in Sandbridge for the past few summers. Delightfully quiet and close to the beach, but the nearby neighborhoods -- Red Mill, Pungo, Princess Anne -- are so homogenized. It's as if every one of them got a starter pack of Harris Teeter, Food Lion, a basic barbecue joint, lousy pizza and a Starbucks, and was let loose to do what they can with it. The entirety of Virginia Beach felt culture-less, which you allude to in your piece.
The history of the entire Hampton Roads region mirrors what was happening across the state in the 60s.
I spent the 80s living in nearby Chesapeake and my wife grew up in Norfolk. We've moved back to the region about 4 years ago to retire but found that Southside has grown so much it's not what we wanted. Additional lanes on the freeway between The Beach and Norfolk, traffic congestion on I64 unlike what we experienced in the past. And even worse than what we experienced in places like Chicago and Detroit.
That said the beach still has its charm, even though we miss some of the old iconic places and dance clubs. I understand progress but sure miss the Jewish Mother.
Your next time thru the area, spend a bit of time in Williamsburg
Horsey cops! That's a sign of soul. Most big cities had horse cops until WW2. Chicago still had them in the '60s.
The persistence of horses in route driving might also be a measurement. Spokane had mail chariots until 1948, and Toronto had streamlined milk wagons in the '50s. The horse was an autonomous vehicle, letting the milkman focus on sorting and billing. The horse knew the route and the stops and some of the people.
Mail chariots:
http://polistrasmill.blogspot.com/2015/04/finally-picture-of-chariot.html
Streamlined milk wagons:
http://polistrasmill.blogspot.com/2010/08/future-seen-from-past.html
I worked up in Surry (across the James River from Williamsburg for those that can’t place a town of 250 on a map) for a summer and loved headed down to Virginia Beach. I somehow messed up the directions of “just head down 264 until it ends” and ended up in Sandbridge which was not a bad thing by any stretch!
Sorry--can't read about that city without thinking about a certain rhyme.
“We don’t drink, we don’t smoke, Norfolk, Norfolk, Norfolk."
I wonder how proper southern belles handled that back in the day.
I feel obligated to push back on the idea that "white flight" had anything to do with the Virginia Beach-Princess Anne merger. This explanation seems like it came from someone who's familiar with the demographic history of places like Detroit / Cleveland / Newark but not the demographic history of anywhere in the South.
Norfolk has never been a majority black city; the closest it came in recent census years was 43% in 2000, declining to 39% at present.
More relevant to the merger decision is its black percentage at the 1960 census: about 25%. Moreover, that wasn't much different from Princess Anne County (16%), or from Norfolk County and the City of South Norfolk (25% and 23% respectively) which merged in 1963 to form the City of Chesapeake.
It's implausible that the mergers in the Hampton Roads region had any significant racial motivation. A more likely explanation is that the residents didn't want to risk being governed by something like an urban political machine (or just didn't want change in their local government at all).
Norfolk census data 1990 and earlier: https://web.archive.org/web/20121018044545/http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0076/VAtab.pdf
1960 census data for South Hampton Roads: https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1960/population-and-housing-phc-1/41953654v8ch03.pdf
I grew up in Va Beach and Chesapeake in the 80s, but left as soon as I could to go to college in NYC. I had attended an arts program in high school in downtown Norfolk, and had had a taste of a walkable urban lifestyle. Just before the pandemic I moved to a walkable neighborhood in DC after having two kids, and I honestly find visiting home to be a bit of a nightmare. My kids are bus and metro kids and never got used to being in a car for long (or short!) periods of time. Having to get in the car to do literally anything just does not compute for them. The Hampton Roads area has sprawled so much since I was a kid, and main roads that used to be daunting but manageable to cross in order to get to a playground on the other side have become 50mph highways. The car has become the organizing principle of life and, as someone once described to me, a paywall to doing anything.
We've been down in Sandbridge for the past few summers. Delightfully quiet and close to the beach, but the nearby neighborhoods -- Red Mill, Pungo, Princess Anne -- are so homogenized. It's as if every one of them got a starter pack of Harris Teeter, Food Lion, a basic barbecue joint, lousy pizza and a Starbucks, and was let loose to do what they can with it. The entirety of Virginia Beach felt culture-less, which you allude to in your piece.
But, the aquarium rocks.
The history of the entire Hampton Roads region mirrors what was happening across the state in the 60s.
I spent the 80s living in nearby Chesapeake and my wife grew up in Norfolk. We've moved back to the region about 4 years ago to retire but found that Southside has grown so much it's not what we wanted. Additional lanes on the freeway between The Beach and Norfolk, traffic congestion on I64 unlike what we experienced in the past. And even worse than what we experienced in places like Chicago and Detroit.
That said the beach still has its charm, even though we miss some of the old iconic places and dance clubs. I understand progress but sure miss the Jewish Mother.
Your next time thru the area, spend a bit of time in Williamsburg