False Cape

False Cape is located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean in the extreme southeastern portion of Virginia. It borders a section of ocean adjacent to North Carolina and a small portion of Virginia known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic due to the many shipwrecks that occurred there. False Cape is so named because its land mass resembled Cape Henry from the ocean. This false impression of Cape Henry, which is situated at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay about 20 miles (32 km) to the north, lured navigators of ships and boats into the treacherous shallow waters, where they often ran aground.^[1]

Irish immigrants searching for Cape Henry ran aground in the 18th century and built a small unincorporated town using cypress wood that washed ashore from shipwrecks, and named it Wash Woods. These immigrants lived among local Native American tribes and some immigrants married local Native Americans. However, the severe weather conditions took a toll on the small town. By the 1920s the sea had inundated the narrow sliver of sand so often that townspeople were eventually forced to abandon the place and relocate to Knotts Island a few miles inland. Wash Woods is now considered one of the many lost towns of Virginia.

In modern times, the False Cape is located in False Cape State Park, adjacent to the federal Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge in a remote portion of the city of Virginia Beach, Virginia. A portion of the cape has been protected as the False Cape Natural Area Preserve.^[2]

References

Coordinates: 36°36′10″N 75°53′03″W / 36.6027°N 75.8841°W / 36.6027; -75.8841