Grove, Virginia

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Grove and Grove Station on the C&O Railway located in southeastern James City County, Virginia as shown on 1895 map
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Grove and Grove Station on the C&O Railway located in southeastern James City County, Virginia as shown on 1895 map

Grove is an unincorporated community in the southeastern portion of James City County, Virginia, the oldest county in the United States, although a very small northwestern portion of Grove is actually located in adjacent York County. It is geographically located in almost the exact center of the Historic Triangle of Colonial Virginia, composed of Jamestown, Williamsburg and Yorktown, linked by the Colonial Parkway.

Grove is located along U.S. Route 60 just east Busch Gardens Europe theme park and other Anheuser-Busch industries and developments, and just west of a southeastern James City County industrial park which includes tenants such as a Wal-Mart distribution center. It is primarily a moderate income semi-rural primarily residential community where many generations of some families have resided.

The most prominent local feature of Grove is probably Colonial Williamsburg Foundation's historic and preserved Carter's Grove Plantation on the James River. The 1755-era mansion and surrounding gardens and plantation land are located on property which was once part of the Martin's Hundred subsidiary of the Virginia Company of London in 1619. There, the original site and remains of Wolstenholme Towne were discovered in 1976.

Contents

[edit] Native Americans

For one thousand years or more, the Native Americans in the area prior to the arrival of Spanish and English settlers in the 16th and 17th centuries were semi-nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes. A major village is believed located somewhere nearby, although the site has not been identified. At the time the English settlers established Jamestown in 1607, the Powhatan Confederacy included most natives in the area which became southeastern Virginia, although there were some other small unaffiliated tribes in the area.

[edit] Early history: 17th thru 19th centuries

[edit] Source of name: Grove Creek, Carter's Grove

The Grove Community was probably named for nearby Grove Creek, which drains into the James River about 6 miles east (downstream) of Jamestown. Grove Wharf at the confluence of Grove Creek and the river is shown on some very early maps of Virginia.

Initially, the English of the Virginia Company of London chose Jamestown to begin their settlement of the Virginia Colony, arriving in 1607 in three ships commanded by Admiral Christopher Newport. (See main article Jamestown, Virginia)

After a few very difficult years, the new colony gradually began expanding, and plantations were established along the James River, largely to grow the primary export crop, non-native strains of tobacco, introduced by colonist John Rolfe, who later married Pocahontas. About 7 miles downstream from Jamestown on the same north bank of the river, just east of Grove Creek, the Grove area was originally settled by the English in 1619 as part of Martin's Hundred, a proprietary plantation of over 20,000 acres under the auspices of the Virginia Company of London. There, not far from the riverfront, the new Wolstenholme Towne, the Martin's Hundred administrative center, was established.

Following what seemed a promising start, the majority of the population of Wolstenholme Towne, including men, women and children was largely wiped out by the Indian Massacre of 1622, one of the largest single locations of loss of life by settlers during the attacks. Although rebuilt a few years later, Wolstenholme Towne was abandoned by around 1643, and the site was lost until 1976 (see below).

Martin's Hundred Parish Church was established by the Church of England, and served the area including Wolstenholme Towne. It was later combined with Yorkhampton Parish in adjacent York County.

Carter's Grove Plantation was built on part of the Martin's Hundred land over 100 years later for Carter Burwell, son of Elizabeth Carter Burwell and her husband, Nathaniel Burwell. Carter Burwell was the grandson of wealthy plantation and landowner Robert "King" Carter (of Lancaster County), who had acquired his nickname of "King" for his wealth and business practices. King Carter in bequeathing the land required that it forever after be known as "Carter's Grove". This was likely named for both the Carter family, one of the First Families of Virginia, and Grove Creek. The new plantation home, completed in 1755, could also be the source of the place name of the Grove Community, which was established many years later on immediately adjacent land.

Under ownership of Colonial Williamsburg Foundation since 1969, the long-lost site of Wolstenholme Towne was located on Carter's Grove Plantation in 1976, where a historic archaeological dig was documented by noted archaeologist Ivor Noel Hume. A landmark in the Grove Community, Carter's Grove Plantation is currently owned by Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, and used for support purposes, but has not been open to the public since 2003. Carter's Grove Country Road, a narrow but paved bucolic link to the Historic Area of Colonial Williamsburg was damaged during Hurricane Isabel in late 2003, and has been closed to traffic since then. (The primary access to the Plantation on U.S. Route 60 was reopened shortly after the storm, although still closed to the public).

[edit] Location, early nature of community

The Grove Community is located about a mile inland and parallel to the riverfront adjacent to the large plantation, and stretches approximately 4 miles along U.S. Route 60, known locally as Pocahontas Trail. Beginning in 1619, and increasingly toward the end of the 17th century, large numbers of slaves were brought to the Virginia Colony from Africa by Dutch and British ships. On the large tobacco plantations, they replaced indentured servants as field labor, as well as serving as household and skilled workers. However, even early on, some individual slaves began obtaining their freedom, either through their own enterprise, or through benevolence of their "owners", as family-type ties grew between some of them.

Initially, the Grove Community consisted primarily of African American freedmen (and women), mostly farmers and fishermen by trade. It is known that many had settled there prior to the American Civil War (1861-1865) and the emancipation of all remaining slaves. Some of the free residents of Grove were employed at Carter's Grove Plantation by the many owners for a period of over 200 years (before and after the Civil War) to help maintain the mansion and elaborate gardens and grounds.

[edit] Grove Station on the new C&O Railroad

Nearby, Grove Station was established by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) under the leadership of Collis P. Huntington, which built through the area from its terminus in Richmond in 1881 to reach the coal piers and the new city of Newport News on the generally ice-free harbor of Hampton Roads. Although a number of other railroad stations were also established in James City County and the adjacent area, the primary purpose of the railroad was through coal traffic, a traffic pattern that continues in the 21st century under C&O successor CSX Transportation.

Grove Station is long gone; however, other C&O to the east at Lee Hall and to the west at Williamsburg are extant, with the latter still receiving intercity passenger rail service from Amtrak. Another historic C&O station, built in 1908 for Norge, has been preserved and was relocated in 2006 to the site of the Croaker Branch of the Williamsburg Regional Library.

[edit] Postal service

According to a state atlas, in 1895, Grove had a population of 37 persons and its own post office. In modern times, the Grove Community, currently consisting of about 1,100 families, is located on a rural postal delivery route and carries the mailing address of Williamsburg, Virginia 23185, although that historic city itself is located about 7 miles to the west.

[edit] Growth in 20th century

In the first half of the 20th century, many new homes were built and amenities including electricity, running water and sidewalks were added as additional residents chose to relocate in Grove from two large military reservations established by the U.S. Navy in adjacent York County, which took the land they had formerly occupied.

[edit] Relocations from "the Reservation" and Lackey area

Prior to World War I, many African Americans lived in the unincorporated town of Lackey in York County, where they (and their ancestors) had obtained land as freedmen and former slaves or rented under sharecropping arrangements and established homesteads, particularly after the American Civil War. This close-nit community was sometimes called informally "the Reservation", as it had been largely settled simultaneously by freedmen.

As the United States became more involved in World War I in 1917, the U.S. Navy determined that it needed to establish a supply and munitions base near Yorktown adjacent to the York River. Under Executive Order of President Woodrow Wilson, the US Navy took a sizable piece of land to create the needed military base, initially known as a mine depot. [1] Many homes were taken, as were three churches also displaced. As the land was taken to became part of what is now known as the Naval Weapons Station Yorktown in 1918, the residents who were mostly farmers or fishermen, some owners, other tenants, scattered to other portions of York County, and nearby Williamsburg. A few crossed the York River and settled in Gloucester County. Perhaps the largest single group chose nearby James City County, and a substantial number relocated to Grove.

John Pack Roberts (born approximately 1860), a farmer and self-taught man who educated himself in the law, is credited by historians as being instrumental in the growth of the Grove Community by helping some of those displaced from Lackey obtain compensation from the federal government. The Grove area is now part of the Roberts Magisterial District of the James City County, perhaps in honor of John Pack Roberts or other members of his family. [citation needed]

[edit] Highway success

As part of the Good Roads Movement, the new road which became U.S. Route 60 was routed through Grove from Williamsburg to Lee Hall rather than following a competing route via Halstead's Point in York County (now on the base of the US Naval Weapons Station Yorktown. Earlier, the east-west road which became U.S. 60 was State Route 9. SR 9 was renumbered as State Route 39 in 1923, and became U.S. 60 in 1926 when it was routed through Grove. Two-laned U.S. 60 continues to form the main thoroughfare through the largely residential and neighborhood business section of Grove, paralleling four-laned State Route 143 and Interstate 64.

[edit] Relocations from Magruder

During World War II, another small town, Magruder, located about 3 miles north of Williamsburg in York County, was taken to establish a U.S. Navy base for Seabee training initially known as Camp Allen, which later became known as Camp Peary. This community was also largely populated by African Americans landowners and tenants, as well as businesses and a church. Once again, the Grove Community grew with relocated households. At least one church, Mt. Gilead Baptist Church, was relocated from Magruder, and rebuilt along U.S. 60 in Grove.

[edit] Modern times

In the 21st century, Grove is largely a bedroom community. Housing is much more affordable than in many other areas of the fast growing county. Many families have lived in Grove for generations, and housing is a combination of older homes, some new houses, mobile home parks, and several condominium projects. On the south side of U.S. Route 60, there are several large industrial properties, including a Ball can plant which supplies Anheuser-Busch's Williamsburg brewery, and a distribution center for Wal-Mart just to the east. James City County is actively seeking additional industrial business in this prime area.

[edit] Employment

Although there is little retail or hospitality employment in Grove, especially with Carter's Grove Plantation currently closed (since 2003), many residents use Williamsburg Area Transit (WAT) public bus service to reach employment, shopping, and other business at adjacent Busch Gardens Europe, in downtown Williamsburg, and at businesses along the way such as the Kingsmill resort and shops, and hotels, motels, and restaurants in the Fort Magruder vicinity. The same WAT transit bus route also serves a Wal-Mart distribution center, a Haynes furniture warehouse and the growing industrial park south of Grove, as well as providing an hourly connection six days a week to the massive Hampton Roads Transit system at the western edge of Newport News at Lee Hall.

[edit] Notables

  • In 1963, Oscar H. Blayton of Grove became the first African American to attend the College of William and Mary as an undergraduate. He graduated from Yale University Law School in 1977, and became a prominent attorney in Williamsburg, where a downtown office building is named in his honor.
  • Grove Creek Natural Area is located on private property, west of Carter's Grove Plantation. Although not open to the public, rare plants are located there. The natural area is monitored by members of the John Clayton Chapter of the Virginia Natural Plant Society.

[edit] Trivia

  • A small but historic section of the northwestern edge of Grove is physically located in York County and is listed on that county's Historical Resources Survey (as are the former sites of the lost towns of Lackey and Magruder).
  • Magruder Avenue in Grove was presumably named in recognition of the resettlement of many residents there from the former town of Magruder during World War II.
  • Mt. Gilead Baptist Church, relocated from Magruder in 1943, maintains cemeteries at its new and former locations. Although access to the base at Camp Peary is under highly restrictive security, families and others from the church may enter to visit and tend to the old cemetery with special permission.

[edit] See also

[edit] Sources

[edit] Publications

  • McCartney, Martha W. (1977) James City County: Keystone of the Commonwealth; James City County, Virginia; Donning and Company; ISBN 0-89865-999-X

[edit] Websites

[edit] External links

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