About
LANDMARKS: AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORIC SITES IN NORTHAMPTON COUNTY
A Self-Guided Driving Tour in Northampton County, Virginia, based on the 2006 book by Frances Bibbins Latimer.
INTRODUCTION
Frances Bibbins Latimer’s 2006 ground breaking book, Landmarks: Black Historic Sites in Northampton County, and her 2013 book, Life For Me Ain’t Been No Crystal Stair, are being used for most of this tour, with verbatim excerpts. We want you to hear her voice as she wrote it, even though the sharing of African American history has changed in the past twenty years. Some text has been updated to the National Archives terminology used in describing African American history. Specifically, “slave” has been replaced with “enslaved person,” “owner” with “enslaver,” and “black” with “African American.”
Please be respectful of the cemeteries and sacred sites. Before you go, we suggest you take a copy of Kirk Mariner’s book Off 13: The Eastern Shore of Virginia Guidebook available at local bookstores, museums, and some gift shops. Binoculars are recommended as is bug spray from spring to fall. If you have any concerns, get lost, or need local information, please call the ESVA Tourism Welcome Center at 757-331-1660. Keep in mind that cell phone reception is limited in many areas on the Shore. GPS uses “Cape Charles” as the address for many stops that are NOT in the town of Cape Charles. Paper maps may be available at Stop 1 – the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel (CBBT) Welcome Center.
Many of the towns have printable walking tours, available at the Free History page on the Northampton County, Virginia website.
**We highly recommend the Town of Cape Charles’ walking tour, “The Invisible History of African Americans in Cape Charles, Virginia,” which is a book available locally or online.
We also recommend visiting The Impact Center at the historic Cape Charles Rosenwald School, 1500 Old Cape Charles Road, Cape Charles.**
Features:
Arts & Culture, Historical Site, Tours, Heritage, Driving Tour
