HAMPTON HERITAGE SITES

Heritage Sites to See

Sometimes a city’s intriguing sites are not immediately visible. Perhaps it’s a private, historic home neatly hidden on a seldom-traveled street or a remote stretch of sandy shoreline that once held a prominent local landmark. The following listings represent Hampton’s renowned and “off-the-beaten-path” heritage sites, some still standing, others not. A visit to any one compliments your Hampton heritage tour. We recommend them all.

HAMPTON HISTORY MUSEUM

As the history of Hampton parallels major events in American history, so too is the city’s history intertwined with the story of African Americans in this country. The Hampton History Museum recounts this inspiring story in ten galleries that span from the city’s early inhabitance by the Kecoughtan Indians through the 20 th century, illuminating the contributions of African Americans throughout. In addition, exhibitions change throughout the year providing a unique focus on aspects of history and are featured in a changing gallery on the second floor. Dedicated heritage tours may be arranged by contacting the museum’s educator. The museum is also the home of the Hampton Visitor Center.

(120 Old Hampton Lane, Hampton. 757/727-1610, HamptonHistoryMuseum.org. From Interstate 64, take exit 267. Continue on Settlers Landing Road over the Hampton River, past the Virginia Air & Space Center, and turn right onto History Museum Way. Turn right to park free-of-charge in the Settlers Landing Parking Garage. The Hampton History Museum is located at the intersection of History Museum Lane and Old Hampton Lane.)

TOUR AND WALKING SITE, HANDICAP ACCESSIBLE, MOTORCOACH ACCESSIBLE

FORT MONROE AT OLD POINT COMFORT

Among the largest stone forts ever built in the United States, Fort Monroe is a National Monument, a National Historic Landmark and is listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register. Military prisoners, civilian artisans and enslaved men that were loaned by their masters for the job, provided labor for the fort’s construction. The post insignia contains the motto “Freedom’s Fortress,” a fitting reminder of its past. Please see pages 4-6 for additional Fort Monroe history.

(From Interstate 64, take exit 268 to Mallory Street. Turn right on Mellen Street and follow to Fort Monroe. Suggested driving tour time: 30 minutes.)

FORT MONROE VISITOR & EDUCATION CENTER

Visitors are encouraged to start their visit at the Fort Monroe Visitor & Education Center. With visitor amenities, galleries, gift shop, archives, and multipurpose space, the center is open daily 10 am to 5 pm, except Thanksgiving, December 24 & 25, and January 1.

(30 Ingalls Road, 757-690-8181. Enter Fort Monroe, crossing to the right onto McNair Drive. Follow McNair along the waterfront; turn left onto Fenwick Road in front of the Chamberlin. At stop sign turn left onto Ingalls Road. Fort Monroe Visitor Center is second building on the right.)

CASEMATE MUSEUM AT FORT MONROE

Fort Monroe’s fascinating history is interpreted for visitors through weaponry, uniform and Civil War exhibits at the Casemate Museum, located within the historic walls of the fort. The National Historic Landmark features the cell in which Confederate President Jefferson Davis was held following the Civil War for treason, mistreatment of Union prisoners, and complicity in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

Additional historic sites to note within the stone-fort walls include the Chapel of the Centurion, Lieutenant Robert E. Lee’s living quarters, the Flag Bastion atop the fort walls and Quarters One, the oldest Army constructed building at Fort Monroe and the quarters where Abraham Lincoln stayed when he visited the post to strategize on how to take Norfolk during the Civil War. Guided tours of the museum and grounds are available to groups of 10 people or more who schedule their visit two weeks in advance. A contribution to the Casemate Museum Foundation is appreciated.

(Casemate 20, Bernard Road, Fort Monroe. 757/788- 3391. Automobiles may enter through one of the stonefort entrances and follow the signs to the Casemate Museum. Motorcoaches may allow passengers to disembark at the footbridge footbridge accessible from the Fort Monroe Visitor & Education Center located on Ingalls St.

Visitors may easily cross the moat on foot and walk through the passageway in the fort wall to reach the museum’s entrance. Open daily, 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s days. Suggested tour time: 1 to 1 ½ hours for exhibits; 1 ½ to 2 hours for exhibits and outside historic sites.)

TOUR SITE, WALKING SITE, HANDICAPPED ACCESSIBLE; MOTORCOACH PARKING OUTSIDE FORT’S STONE WALLS

HAMPTON UNIVERSITY MUSEUM

One of America’s most impressive collections of multicultural art is located on the Hampton University campus. Founded in 1868, it is the nation’s oldest African American museum and one of the oldest museums in Virginia. Its holdings represent the first assemblage of African art collected by African American William H. Shepperd, and it is the first institution to establish a collection of African American artists. The museum’s focus turned to the fine arts in 1894 with the acquisition of Henry Ossawa Tanner’s The Banjo Lesson. Jacob Lawrence, John Biggers, Samella Lewis, Elizabeth Catlett…these are just a few of the artists whose works make up the Fine Arts Collection. The museum’s art holdings of the Harlem Renaissance period, featuring works by William H. Johnson and Augusta Savage, and several others, are among the nation’s finest. The museum’s collection of more than 9,000 objects and works of art represents cultures and people from around the world. A changing gallery highlights the works of both new and established artists. The museum shop contains an outstanding selection of jewelry, crafts, books and reproduction prints.

(The Huntington Building is on Frissell Avenue on the Hampton University campus. Open Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; Saturday, noon to 4:00 p.m.

Phoebus

Camp Hamilton disbanded in 1865 and in 1880 the area became known as Chesapeake City. The area was incorporated as the town of Phoebus in 1900 and became part of the City of Hampton in 1952. Today, Phoebus is a lively district that serves as the gateway to Fort Monroe. Phoebus presents the visitor with eclectic shopping and dining, as well as performances at the renowned American Theatre.

Closed major and campus holidays. Free admission. Suggested tour time: 1 hour. 757/727-5308)

TOUR SITE, MOTORCOACH ACCESSIBLE, HANDICAPPED ACCESSIBLE

LEGACY PARK

Legacy Park, located near Memorial Church facing the Hampton River, features statues of notable Americans, including US Presidents, Civil Rights leaders, University alumni, and esteemed University President Dr. William Harvey. The park’s sculpted benches and statues may be visited by vehicle or via walking tour.

BOOKER T. WASHINGTON MEMORIAL GARDEN AND STATUE

A commanding statue of one of the school’s most famous graduates stands on the campus of Hampton University. Formerly enslaved, Booker T. Washington was a determined student and gifted leader. Washington walked from

his home in southwest Virginia to reach Hampton and then worked to pay for his education, initiating a campus workstudy program. He graduated among the class of 1875. Washington worked with assimilating Native Americans into the Hampton Normal and Agriculture Institute program in 1878. He was the first African American to work at the Institute as a paid member of the staff. He later moved to Alabama to open what would be the prestigious Tuskegee Institute. Surrounded by a memorial garden, the statue is a reminder of his outstanding academic achievements and inspiring accomplishments. (On Marshall Avenue on the Hampton University campus. Open year-round, from dawn to dusk.)

DRIVE-BY SITE, WALKING SITE, MOTORCOACH ACCESSIBLE

JOHN BIGGERS’ HAMPTON MURALS

The 20 x 10 foot murals House of the Turtle and Tree House are the work of Dr. John Biggers and can be seen in the William R. and Norma B. Harvey Library at Hampton University. Among the most renowned living American artists, Bigger enrolled in Hampton Institute in 1941, where he pursued a career in art. After he received his doctorate in art education from Penn State, he headed the art department at Texas Southern University until 1983. Biggers returned to Hampton in the early 1990s and worked on the murals for 14 months while serving as artist-in-residence. Many buildings on campus are illustrated in the murals, which are, according to Biggers, a metaphor for the human experience of growing, learning and thinking. (On Tyler Street on the Hampton University campus. Campus open year-round; library hours may vary according to academic year. Call 757/727-5371 for operating hours.)

TOUR SITE, MOTORCOACH ACCESSIBLE, HANDICAPPED ACCESSIBLE

VIRGINIA-CLEVELAND HALL

As a means for raising funds to support the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, General Samuel Chapman Armstrong organized the Hampton Singers, students who performed at choral concerts in the Northeast. Over a two-and-a-half year period, the Hampton Singers performed in more than 500 concerts. School officials say that these talented singers “sung up” the walls of one of the girls’ dormitories, Virginia Hall, because the funds raised by the group helped offset some of the construction costs. Designed by the renowned architect Richard Morris Hunt, this beautiful Victorian building was completed in 1874; Cleveland Hall was added in 1901. Virginia-Cleveland Hall is listed as one of the university’s six National Historic Landmarks. (From Tyler Street on the Hampton University campus, turn left onto Frissell Avenue. Virginia-Cleveland Hall is located on the circular drive, to the right of Ogden Hall. Campus open-year-round, from dawn to dusk.)

DRIVE-BY SITE, WALKING SITE, MOTORCOACH ACCESSIBLE

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. HAMPTON HEROES MEMORIAL PLAZA

Located on the fountain plaza in front of the Hampton Roads Convention Center, the memorial pays tribute to individuals who worked for civil rights and social justice, influencing positive change in Hampton. (1610 Coliseum Drive. Free parking is available at the Hampton Roads Convention Center.)

DRIVE-BY SITE, WALKING SITE, MOTORCOACH ACCESSIBLE.

TUCKER FAMILY CEMETERY

The cemetery is the resting place for generations of the William Tucker family. William Tucker, the first child of African descent born in the British colonies, was the son of Anthony and Isabella who were among the first “twenty and odd” Africans to arrive at Point Comfort aboard the White Lion in 1619. (Located at 1 Sharon Court in Aberdeen Gardens. On-street parking. 757-774-6892, williamtucker1624society.org.)

DRIVE-BY SITE, WALKING SITE. MOTORCOACH ACCESSIBLE

Tucker Family Cemetery

Aberdeen Gardens, “Built by blacks, for blacks.”

ABERDEEN GARDENS COMMUNITY AND HISTORIC MUSEUM

The spirit of the Aberdeen Gardens community, built “by blacks, for blacks,” as part of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal Settlement, is celebrated with the Aberdeen Gardens Historic Museum. Dedicated in September 2002, the museum represents original Aberdeen Garden dwellings. Construction of the 440-acre subdivision, begun in 1934 and completed in 1937, consisted of 158-single family homes along with gardens for sustenance, a school, and a commercial center. The Hampton Institute-initiated project was designed as a model other communities of African Americans could emulate. The planning, design, site preparation and construction were completed by an all-African-American work force. Hilyard R. Robinson, an African-American professor at Howard University, was the neighborhood’s architect. Charles S. Duke, a civil engineer, designed and managed construction. A typical house was made of handcrafted bricks, one and a half stories high in colonial revere architecture, with an attached garage. House plans were for three, four rooms and five rooms, which had a multipurpose room consisting of a living room, dining room and kitchen, and a bathroom. Plans with three and four rooms had two bedrooms. Plans with five rooms had three bedrooms with a separate living room. Each home had a large fenced-in yard for gardening and fruit trees. A community greenbelt was used for farming. The neighborhood received national attention when Eleanor Roosevelt visited it in 1938. Aberdeen Gardens was named Neighborhood of the Year by Neighborhoods USA in 2002 as a tribute to the spirit of partnership the community and the museum exemplify. The museum may

be toured with advance appointment only.

(57 N. Mary Peake Boulevard, Hampton. 757/251-2283 or 757/722-2345. From Interstate 64, take exit 263-A, and follow Mercury Blvd. Turn left onto Aberdeen Road and right into Aberdeen Gardens. Follow to Mary Peake Boulevard.)

DRIVE-BY AND TOUR SITE, HANDICAP ACCESSIBLE, MOTORCOACH PARKING

VIRGINIA AIR & SPACE CENTER

The center is the visitor center for NASA Langley and Langley Air Force Base. The center’s programs highlight the contributions of African Americans in the fields of aeronautics and aviation. In 1917, Hampton Institute and other landowners sold acres to the government for construction of the nation’s first aeronautics laboratory. It was known as the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), to become the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in 1958. Between 1941 and 1944, 30 black units of various types resided at Langley. The center features state-of-the-art space and aircraft exhibits, interactive displays and the five-story-high Riverside 3-D IMAX ® Theater. A permanent exhibit chronicles the Tuskegee Airmen, the first black aviators to fly for the U.S. in wartime combat. Each February the center presents special programs, displays and films in recognition of Black History Month. (600 Settlers Landing Road, Hampton. 757/727-0900, 800/296-0800, www.vasc.org. From Interstate 64, take exit 267 toward Downtown Hampton. Continue over the Hampton River on Settlers Landing to the Virginia Air & Space Center. Parking is available on opposite side of the street in parking garage. Call for hours of operation and admission fees.)

TOUR SITE, MOTORCOACH ACCESSIBLE, HANDICAP ACCESSIBLE

GREENLAWN MEMORIAL PARK AND PLEASANT SHADE CEMETERY

Like the segregation laws that made them separate, Greenlawn Memorial Park and Pleasant Shade Cemetery have side-by-side stories to tell. Greenlawn, founded in 1888, was included in the National Register of Historic Places both for its Victorian style landscaping, which created the atmosphere of a public park, and for its as sociation with the Civil War. Confederate prisoners were held at Newport News POW Camp next to what was then Camp Butler, where 163 of them died and were buried. During the economic development of Newport News Point in the 1890s, the bodies were re-interred at Greenlawn. A privately-funded obelisk was erected and, more recently, a tablet listing the names, ranks, and hometowns of the men was installed. Inscribed on the monument by Hamp ton’s Confederate veterans are the words, “A tribute from the hearts of surviving comrades.”

Three separate cemeteries were established for African American burials along Greenlawn’s eastern property line. The oldest is Mount Zion, begun in 1888 as part of Green lawn. The others were Pleasant Shade, dating to 1909 and the first black-owned cemetery on the Peninsula, and Holly Grove, founded in 1918.

Pleasant Shade is the resting place for many prominent African Americans, including Elder Solomon Lightfoot Micheau, founder of the Gospel Spreading Church and called the “Happy Am I” radio preacher. Others are Jo seph T. Newsome, a prominent lawyer; Jessie M. Rattley, the first African American and the first woman to be mayor of Newport News; and John Ridley Sr., a founder of Crown Savings Bank, the first black-owned Newport News bank.

(Take I-664, exit 3, turn left onto Aberdeen Rd.; Aberdeen Rd. turns right at Victoria Blvd. and becomes 27th Street; immediately turn right at Parish Avenue; enter Greenlawn Cemetery. Pleasant Shade Cemetery is adjacent to Greenlawn and is separated by the line of trees you will see to the east of the property. There is road access to Pleasant Shade but you may find it easier to exit Greenlawn at the back of the cemetery onto Shell Road/35th Street, turn right and immediately turn right into Pleasant Shade.)

WALKING SITE; PARKING AVAILABLE

ELMERTON CEMETERY WITH MARY PEAKE AND JANIE PORTER BARRETT GRAVE SITES

At Elmerton Cemetery, the diligent history enthusiast will find the gravesite of Mary Peake (1823-1862), an African American teacher who, against Virginia law, taught school to free and enslaved blacks before the Civil War. Her role as a prominent educator was publicly recognized on the 100 th anniversary of her death, when a Hampton elementary school was named in her honor. Another grave site to seek is that of Janie Porter Barrett, an 1884 Hampton Institute graduate and activitist who worked on behalf of women and children, founding Locust Street Social Settle ment in 1890, the Virginia State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs, and the Virginia Industrial School for Col ored Girls in Hanover County, Virginia.

(Take I-64, exit 267, to Settlers Landing Road toward downtown. Turn right onto Eaton Street. Continue to Pembroke Avenue and turn left, turn right onto Wine Street; on-street parking.)

WALKING SITE; LIMITED PERIMETER PARKING

RUPPERT L. SARGENT BUILDING

A downtown Hampton municipal building was named for First Lieutenant Ruppert Leon Sargent. Born in Hampton, January 6, 1938, Sargent attended Phenix High School and completed two years of college at Hampton Institute prior to entering the Army in 1959. Lt. Sargent is the only Medal of Honor recipient to be born and raised in Hampton. He is buried in the Hampton National Cemetery.

Lieutenant Sargent was killed on March 15, 1967 in Vietnam when he threw himself over two grenades tossed by a Viet Cong soldier. His gallant effort saved the lives of two comrades. In 1968, the recommendation for Sargent’s posthumous Medal of Honor was approved, making him the first Hamptonian officer to receive this most prestigious of all decorations. A bronze bust of Sargent created by African American artist Steve Prince, Sargent’s medals and a plaque recognizing his contribution to our nation are located in the building’s lobby.

(From Interstate 64, take exit 267 to Downtown Hampton. From Settlers landing Road, turn right onto Merchant Lane and left onto Old Hampton Lane.)