Great Neck's Chesapeake Indians

During the early & mid 8os, the Great Neck area of Virginia Beach was excavated for artifacts from a long-gone Chesapeake Indian settlement. In this photo, you can see postholes that had been left behind for centuries. There were once part of their dwellings. This site was on Thomas Bishop Lane, photo is from the mid 8os.

Nearby postholes..

When you enter the neighborhood today, there's this historical marker giving some backstory on the local Chesapeake.

^ this is some legal and technical info I found from an old government publication on the Great Neck excavation.

Linked comic on the Chesapeake Indians: The Disappearance of the Chesapeake Indians.

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A couple years back, the Birchwood Shopping Center went thru a pretty comprehensive remodel. But they left a remaining segment of its original facade. My best theory: since this wall doesn't face Virginia Beach Blvd, they didn't want to invest in re-doing it. And I appreciate it. It's a remnant of its old '7os form. (This is the back wall facing Lampl, where Revco used to be.)

The whole complex used to have these ridged walls, with the '7os ball lights. It reminds me of its 8os Outlet Mall days.

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Interesting 1982 print ad I rediscovered recently... Pascal's Isle of Capri, formerly at 313 Laskin Road. I only found one online reference to Pascal's, a 1993 Daily Press article, recalling Pascal's late '70s glory days. I mean, their operating hours were 9 at night 'til 2 in the morning. That's my kinda' club, and I appreciate their hand-crafted logo.

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Found this old 1959 directory ad for Maestas Funeral Home recently.. once located on 18th & Baltic. And I realized 65 years later, this building still stands. Had some square footage added, but still there, now housing a funeral home with a different business name..

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This is a pretty obscure recollection.. the short-lived Chuck E Cheese's at Hilltop.

It was housed in this building at Hilltop West circa 1983. Which is currently 1637 & 1639 Hilltop West. And was only open for a year (or two).

In 1982, the building was partially occupied by S&K men's clothing store (directory listing circled)..

By the time of the following year's (1983) phone directory, Chuck E Cheese's had moved in, and there was no longer a listing for S & K, so Cheese's must've occupied both 1637 & 1639, basically the whole building. (New listing circled..)

This was an interesting practice of these old city directories.. they listed the name of the business' managers. I cross-referenced the manager's name in the same directory, and he was living over in Green Run. But like the Chuck E Cheese, he wasn't there the preceding year, and was gone by the following year. You can see, by the printing of the '84 directory, the Chuck E Cheese's was gone.

Who knows why it came and went so quickly, early/mid 80s was when Cheese's was in its prime. And based on the general manager's phone listing.. seems like he may have specifically relocated to (then left) VB based on the job?

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This was a cool building that had been on Virginia Beach Blvd for a long time..

There was a nice bait & tackle shop at the front, the back and side was basically a small business park (I guess as part of Birchwood's larger business park there). Looks like a church was one of their last tenants.

The recent, regrettable end of that building. I saw that Atlantic Bait & Tackle did relocate, and rebrand tho..

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Sort of a quick then-and-now.. A newspaper ad from February 1980, advertising a new home at the back of Little Neck.

And the same house (different angle), 40 years later..

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