11/17/2020
"PROJECT SEATACK!".....HISTORIC SEATACK, VA in .."The Oldest African American Community In The United States!"🇺🇸 in the City of Virginia Beach Comprehensive Plan.
Historic Architectural Resource Survey Update – Northern Half, City of Virginia Beach
“ABSTRACT
Between March 2018 and July 2018, Cultural Resource Analysts, Inc., (CRA) in association with Debra A. McClane, Architectural Historian, completed a reconnaissance-level historic architectural resource survey update covering the City of Virginia Beach’s northern half. The previous reconnaissance-level studies for the City’s northern half were completed in the early 1990s, with additional studies and local research occurring throughout the 2000s….”
Historic Architectural Resource Survey Update – Northern Half, City of Virginia Beach | i
SEATACK
Location: Located in the Oceanfront area, Seatack is bordered on the north by Interstate-264, on the east and west sides by marshy land, on the south by parcels along Deer Creek Drive (Figure 211). Construction Period: 1920s-1960s Potential NRHP Historic District: Yes (VDHR #134-0969) Potential Virginia Beach Historical Register: Potential for local recognition…
Historic Architectural Resource Survey Update – Northern Half, City of Virginia Beach | pg. 259
“In their evaluation of Seatack, the authors stated: Seatack is a more sparsely-settled community than Oceana [which was also recommended as an NRHP-eligible historic district], but it still preserves a strong sense of cohesion among the surviving structures. Seatack contains the only two black churches recorded in this survey, both early-twentieth-century masonry structures with crenelated side towers. The majority of the houses are one- or 1 1/2-story frame bungalows, typical of more modest vernacular housing forms, and date from the first half of the twentieth century. This district would contain approximately twenty contributing buildings, largely domestic properties (Frazier 1992:103).
The authors recommended Seatack as district eligible for listing in the NRHP under Criteria A and C.
The present study confirms Seatack’s NRHP eligibility. Despite the demolition of or significant alterations to some of the historic resources documented in 1992, the community retains a sufficient number of resources and a sufficient level of integrity to convey its historical appearance and character. Such resources include two churches, a school, and several historic dwellings and commercial buildings that date from the early and mid-twentieth century. The district is recommended eligible under Criteria A and C in the areas of Community Planning and Development, Ethnic Heritage: African American, Social History and Other: Civil Rights Movement. For these reasons, Seatack also qualifies for listing individual properties to the Virginia Beach Historical Register. Additional field survey would fully confirm the exact number of surviving historic architectural resources in the community, resulting in a justifiable NRHP historic district boundary. Additional background research, including obtaining oral history from longtime residents and former residents, would inform a more fully developed statement of significance.”
Historic Architectural Resource Survey Update – Northern Half, City of Virginia Beach | pg. 261
