Virginia Beach Seashore State Park

Frank da Cruz, Bronx NY
22 July 2020
Photos by by Connie Gilmer except where otherwise indicated.
Seashore State Park was built by the New Deal Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933-1940 on the site of the landing of the English colonists in 1607 who would found the first permanent English settlement in the New World, Yorktown. The park's name was changed to First Landing State Park in recognition of the 400th anniversary of the landing. Located on Cape Henry in Virginia Beach, the 2770-acre park is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and includes 20 miles of trails and 1.5 miles of Chesapeake Bay beach frontage. See references below.
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References:
  1. Virginia Department of Historical Resources Historical Marker KV 15-a: Civilian Conservation Corps - Company 1371 (2008).
  2. Virginia State Parks Built by the Civilian Conservation Corps, National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service, NRHP Reference Number 05001267, 16 November 2005 (not online; see application).
  3. 134-0099 Seashore State Park, Virginia Department of Historic Resources, 1 June 2005.
  4. First Landing State Park, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, accessed 22 July 2020.
  5. History of Virgina State Parks, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, accessed 22 July 2020: "On June 15, 1936, Virginia became the first state to open an entire park system of six parks on the same day."
  6. First Landing State Park, Wikipedia, accessed 22 July 2020.
  7. Welcome to Cabin #4 at First Landing State Park, Virginia State Parks, 26 August 2012: "The cabins at First Landing State Park were originally built by the CCC".
  8. All-black Civilian Conservation Corps built roads, trails and cabins in First Landing State Park, Stacy Parker, The Virginia-Pilot, February 2020: "In the 1930s, after the Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt launched the Civilian Conservation Corps to provide work for more than 3 million young men, including 250,000 African Americans, while conserving the country's natural resources. An all African American regiment, Company 1371, constructed trails and built cabins in Seashore State Park, now known as First Landing State Park, in Virginia Beach. Although black workers built the park, they were not allowed to use it [until 1965]."
  9. Kinship at First Landing State Park, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, accessed 22 July 2020: the story of kinship and friendship between Mr. Norman Claiborne, a 1940-1942 African American Civilian Conservation Corps member and Ms. Kim Miller, who was working as First Landing State Park's Special Events and Volunteer Coordinator.
  10. Civilian Conservation Corps, New Deal Project, Virginia Still Enjoys Projects Today, nps.org (accessed 22 July 2020): "The development of a state park system was the most important legacy of the CCC in Virginia, which before 1933 had had no state parks. ... First Landing State Park (formerly Seashore State Park), Virginia Beach.Virginia's first-planned and most-visited state park was built by a small army of more than 600 African-American CCC workers beginning in 1933 and features an extensive network of trails and cabins constructed during the New Deal era." The CCC also built Colonial Parkway, which connections Yorktown and Williamsburg.
  11. The Park formerly known as "Seashore", Staci Martin, 2 February 2015, Virginia State Parks website (accessed 22 July 2020).
  12. Video: The CCC in Virginia (5 minutes).
  13. Joe and Patsy Elton, Civilian Conservation Corps in Virginia, Arcadia Publishing (2017). Includes a chapter on the construction of Virginia's state parks, but has no photos from Seashore Park.

Created by Photogallery 3.05 July 22, 2020