http://www.columbia.edu/itc/history/odonnell/w1010/edit/migration/migration3.html
Jacob Lawrence: The First Wave of the Great Migration (1916 – 1919) Part III, image 8
“In Chicago and other cities they labored in the steel mills… and on the railroads.”
How Natural Features, Industrialization, and Ethnicity
Shaped Sugar Hill
Lauren DiBianca
ARH 592
Professor Aaron Wuncsh
6 December 2007
Figure 1: Aerial map of present day Sugar Hill, located on NW peninsula, with 13 homes
(Google Earth Image)
The area currently known as Sugar Hill is a black residential neighborhood
adjacent to the peninsula of Pinners Point in Norfolk County, Portsmouth, Virginia.
Today, 13 homes occupy a small grid of streets framed by Scott’s Creek to the east and
the Martin Luther King Freeway and Midtown Tunnel to the West and North (fig.1 ).
Though one could hardly guess it now, what is currently a tiny black community resting
in an enclave between transportation routes and an inaccessible creek was once a
prosperous neighborhood. The history of Sugar Hill fits into the greater local and even
national history of the shift from agrarian communities to industrial growth, as well as the
stories of black migration and American suburbia. Because of its location near the
Western Branch of the Elizabeth River, Pinners Point, and now more specifically Sugar
Hill have always been important to developers as a connector, first for farmers, then
railroads, and finally for automobile traffic. Sugar Hill, however, is currently denied this
connectivity by the transportation that now hedges in the area. The coming of the railroad
DiBianca
2
in 1886 was the defining event moving Sugar Hill from an agrarian to an industry-based
community, but the nearness to the water as well as race and class of residents caused the
area to retain links to its agrarian roots such that, despite vast development around it over
the years, Sugar Hill remains an enclave amidst Portsmouth traffic and industry.
An Agrarian History
The history of Sugar Hill begins with the history of the greater area of Portsmouth,
and indeed of the United States itself. In 1587 John White was nominated governor by Sir
Walter Raleigh, and charged with establishing a colony at the town of Chesapeake,
Figure 2: Chesapeake Bay Map, 1700s with intricate
detail of the waterways (reproduced in Appendix)
(courtesy Norfolk Public Library)
Figure 3: Zoom on Elizabeth River
in Chesapeake Bay Map, 1700s
(courtesy Norfolk Public Library)
within the current county of Norfolk. The name Norfolk is not in records of Virginia until
1639 or 1640, when it is mentioned as the “Upper and Lower Norfolk Counties.” Norfolk
County as it exists today is a result of the 1691 division of Lower Norfolk County, its
counterpart being neighboring Princess Anne County1. Maps of the region at the time are
extremely detailed in terms of the accuracy of water routes through the Chesapeake Bay
region (figs. 2,3), though land use is almost totally disregarded in these early depictions.
1
Watts, Leigh Richmond, Ed. by Charles B. Cross, Jr. A Historical Sketch of Norfolk County. Delivered at
Berkley, July 4th, 1876, by Request of the Board of Supervisors. (Chesapeake, Virginia: Norfolk County
Historical Society, 1964), p. 18.
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3
From the outset, the intricate fingers of rivers and creeks were the defining features of the
area. Thus the Elizabeth River and its tributaries as transportation routes were set up as a
defining element of the area even in its earliest days of discovery, and water, along with
the transportation opportunities it provides, continued to hold varying but ever important
roles in the development of Portsmouth, Pinners Point, and eventually Sugar Hill.
Land use in Norfolk County on the Western Branch of the Elizabeth River was,
until the late 1800s, characterized by an agrarian economy. Based on census information,
it is known that a David Culpeper lived on the plat of land which now encompasses Sugar
Hill in the early 1800s.
The Culpeper name is
also associated with the
area as early as the 1600s;
a Henry Culpeper owned
land in Norfolk County in
1600s, and on 25 July,
Figure 4: Norfolk County, 1773, showing farmland in Norfolk County.
Scott's Creek runs through the middle of the image
(courtesy Norfolk Public Library)
1698 deeded 100 acres of
land to his son, Thomas2.
A map of the Western Branch of the Elizabeth River, including Scott’s Creek, in 1773
clearly shows agrarian land use, with homes located close to the water’s edge (fig. 4).
This places Norfolk County in sharp contrast with the developing city of Portsmouth, to
the southeast, a contrast that would persist for nearly 200 years more, until the coming of
the railroad to Pinners Point.
2
Norfolk County Deed Book 6, p. 155
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4
Divided amongst children, the Culpeper land eventually landed in hands of David
Culpeper and his wife, who presumably farmed as well. A map of the area in 1818 shows
multiple farming families living on the Pinners Point peninsula, each with a substantial
plat of land connected directly to water access (fig. 5).
Figure 5: Map, Elizabeth River, 1818. Culpeper Farm located on the Western edge of Scott's Creek where
Sugar Hill is now situated. (courtesy of Norfolk Public Library)
In the center is the Scott farm, built in 1734, for which the creek, originally known as
Church Creek, was named (Yarsinske, 213).3 David Culpeper gave the land close to
Scott’s Creek to his daughters in his will, in 1825. However, these sold this 45 acre plat
on the creek to a black family, the Ellets, in 1840, and lived further east on the edge of
Tanner’s Creek (fig. 6). The first census data available is of the Peytons, David
3
Yarsinske, Amy Waters. The Elizabeth River. (Charleston, South Carolina: The History Press, 2007), p.
213.
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5
Culpeper’s daughter, Dorcas’, family, who remained on Tanner’s Creek in the 1860s. A
close look at the Peyton family census data from 1880 provides some insight into the
residents of Norfolk County as
they were living just before the
railroad was established4. The
head of house, Joshua Peyton,
worked as a farmer even at the
age of 71, with his wife Dorcas
Figure 6: 1863 Military Map of Portsmouth and Norfolk County,
with Culpeper Farm located along Tanners Creek, and Ellet home
along western edge of Scott's Creek in center
(courtesy Norfolk Public Library)
keeping house, and their single
son working as a farmer as well.
The widowed Mary Culpeper, age 75, lived with them as well. Their neighbors were
mostly farmers and laborers, with one merchant in the vicinity. Most blacks nearby were
unable to read or write, and neither Joshua Peyton nor Mary Culpeper were able to read
or write.
Regarding the Culpepers’/Peytons’ sale of the land now occupied by Sugar Hill to
the Ellet family, the details are up to speculation. A Joshua Peyton shows up in slave
ownership records from 1850 as owning one male and one female slave. It is possible that
the Ellets were his slaves, and that he sold the land to them as freed blacks. The specific
Ellet family of Edward and Lovey are not visible on any census in the time, most likely
because blacks were unlikely to be recorded in censuses before the Civil War. However,
the Ellet’s daughter, Emeline, is documented as living on the land in 1860. She was a
4
U.S. Bureau of the Census. Inhabitants in Tanners Creek [illegible], in the County of Norfolk, State of
Virginia. 14 June, 1880. p 35.
DiBianca
black woman5. It is safe to say, therefore, that Edward and Lovey were black, and
potentially the former slaves of the Peytons. It is also highly possible, however, that the
Peytons could not afford to own slaves. While Dorcas could read and write, her husband
could not, and therefore probably did not come from a wealthy family6. In this case, the
Ellets may have been precursors of a later trend of black migration to Pinners Point in
search of job opportunities.
At any rate, when Mr. Ellet and his wife died, they left their farmland to their
daughters Emeline and Mary, and their son William and his wife. The division suggests
the Ellet’s knowledge of the importance of
the northern end of their land for
development, as it is split as a separate piece
(fig. 7). This land would later be cut through
by the Norfolk and Carolina Railroad running
north to Pinners Point. Note the location of
the homes on the map; there are 3 on the site.
One seems to be at the end of the boundary
cutting through the middle of the site from the
west, the diagonal and winding characteristics
Figure 7: Ellet Plat Division, 1882
(reproduced in Appendix)
of which would suggest a private road. This home at the end of the road was most likely
the Ellet, and possibly the Culpeper farm, as it is close to the river, the cemetery, and the
access road.
5
U.S. Bureau of the Census. Inhabitants in Jackson Ward, in the County of Norfolk, State of Virginia. 35
August, 1860. p 174.
6
Inhabitants in Tanners Creek Census Record, 1880
6
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In the 1880 census, six years before the coming of the railroad, Emeline Ellet and
her sister Martha still occupied their inherited land, Emeline then married to a William
Thomas from Washington, D.C., who worked as a laborer. None of the Thomas’ two
sons, aged 12 and 10, nor their daughter, age 4, worked, and Emeline kept house. They
seem to have been fairly well off, along with their other neighbors. Martha also kept
house, but as she was single, her daughter Lillyana was a farm hand, and her son, Robert
H, a laborer, at the ages of 18 and 15. The neighbors in the surrounding area were mostly
black, except for one white family, the Welsch’s. Mr. Welsch was a blacksmith, and his
son a farmer. Most men in the Pinners Point region were farm laborers, with one
oysterman; only one child (the Welsch boy) in the immediate vicinity attended school.
Only one woman worked as a farm laborer, while others kept house7. It is unclear
whether the black families worked as farm laborers on their own land, or on Mr.
Welsch’s son’s farm. By this date, they were all freedmen, so it is difficult to tell;
however, the fact that they are listed as farm laborers and not farmers would suggest that
they were farming another’s land.
Black families like the Ellets were not new to Norfolk County, but rather have
been a defining population of the area since its inception, first as slaves, and then as
freedmen. The overall population of the county steadily increased from 1644 on; it also
became more diverse. No free blacks lived in the county until 1810, and the first year
during which no slaves were listed was in 1870. Until then, slaves vastly outnumbered
free blacks. Not only this, but the total number of blacks in the area increased by nearly
200% between 1860 and 1870, showing a migration of blacks to the area shortly
7
U.S. Bureau of the Census. Inhabitants in Halls Corner Voting Precinct, in the County of Norfolk, State
of Virginia. 15 June, 1880. pp. 72-74.
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8
following the land purchase by the Ellet family. Oddly enough, the peak of the population
was in 1890, dropping dramatically in 1900. In 1900, Norfolk County outside Portsmouth
and Norfolk was nearly 60% black, with 31,000 out of 51,000 people being free blacks
(see table 1)8. As will be seen, the existing racial makeup of Pinners Point, combined
with need for unskilled labor as a result of the railroad and accompanying industrial
developments in and around the area, would set up the Ellet’s land to become the
precursor to the black neighborhood that exists today at Sugar Hill.
Railroads Define a New Landscape
Speculation on the possible utility of Norfolk County as a prime railroad location
began as early as 1827, as observed by an article in the Village Register and Norfolk
County Advertise. The article states that commissioners and engineers of the Western
Railroad returned to “this city” after looking into many other sites for the railroad. It lists
many routes that the commissioners had considered, including “through Cummington to
Northampton, and from Northampton through South Hadley to the three rivers, and
through Ware, Rutland, and West Boylston, to the Elsebeth River,” concluding that, “in
general they have found the obsticles less formidable than they had reason to expect.” 9
Though the tracks for Pinners Point’s first railroad were not laid until 1886, its
foundation was based in the overwhelming rail development in the Norfolk region, and
indeed throughout the nation, throughout the 1800s. Norfolk was a logical choice for this
railroad boom, as much of the transportation of goods still relied on shipping; the area’s
8
Stewart, William Henry. History of Norfolk County Virginia and Representative Citizens 1637-1900.
(Chicago, Illinois: Biographical Publishing Company, 1902).
9
Village Register and Norfolk County Advertise, 4 October, 1827 vol. 8 Issue 51, pg. 2
DiBianca
9
maritime connections – well known even two centuries earlier – placed it as a prime
candidate for railroad connections to the northeastern United States and abroad.
The first rail line to be constructed in the region was the Portsmouth and Roanoke
Railroad, or the Portsmouth and Weldon Railroad, incorporated in March 1832. After a
slow start, the Portsmouth based railroad was reorganized and renamed the Seaboard and
Roanoke Railroad in the 1850s.10 A boom of warehouse, wharf, and rail line construction
ensued, and local historian Amy Yarsinske cites that even in the railroad’s infancy,
private residences were sacrificed to transportation lines – a trend later poignantly felt by
residents of Sugar Hill.11 Under a new name, the Seaboard Air Line Railroad was
indirectly responsible for the construction of a rail line to Pinners Point.12
During the 1880s, a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ had reserved the harbor at Elizabeth
River at Norfolk for the Seaboard & Roanoke Railroad, but both the Atlantic Coast Line
and the Piedmont Air Line Route, also known as the Richmond and Danville RR, wanted
access as well. In exchange for staying out of Norfolk, the Seaboard agreed not to operate
in the Richmond vicinity, where the other lines had precedence. However, William P.
Clyde, the owner of the R&D RR, and William T. Walters, the owner of ACL believed
they could get around the gentlemen’s agreement by constructing a rail line from Pinners
Point to Tarboro, rather than having a terminus at Norfolk. The line was built by the then
mayor of Norfolk, Mr. Barton Meyers, and was to be financed by both RR companies,
but R&D RR, later known as the Southern Railway, backed out temporarily.13
10
Prince, Richard E. Atlantic Coast Line Railroad: Steam Locomotives Ships and History. (Salt Lake City,
Utah: The Wheelwright Lithographing Company, 1966) p. 19.
11
Yarsinske, Amy Waters. The Elizabeth River. (Charleston, South Carolina: The History Press, 2007) pp.
266-72.
12
Prince, 19
13
Ibid.
DiBianca 10
Eighteen eighty six marked the date of the charter of the first rail line running
from Pinners Point, known as the Western Branch Railway. This line was chartered to
run from Pinners Point and the car ferry slips of New York, Philadelphia & Norfolk
Railroad (aka: Nyp ‘n N) to truck farms like those farmed by the Culpepers and Welschs
in Norfolk and Nansemond Counties near the Elizabeth River’s Western Branch. 12
miles of track were laid between Pinners Point and Drivers, Virginia, with 8 miles of
spurs stretching into nearby truck farms.
Figure 8: Map of Norfolk and Carolina Railroad at Pinners Point, 1892 (courtesy Norfolk Public Library)
After its construction between 1887 and 1888, the Western Branch Railway provided
farmers in the area with a direct route to New York, Philadelphia, and Boston markets,
thus beginning a new history of indirect connection to the river, rather than direct river
access for each farm.14 An 1892 map depicts the railroad cutting through the old Ellet
property, connecting Pinners Point to the southwest, but cutting the area now known as
Sugar Hill off from the northern area, which would become Port Norfolk (fig. 8). The
14
Ibid.
DiBianca 11
Norfolk and Carolina, and later the Southern Railroads connected Norfolk and
Portsmouth to Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, and North and
South Carolina. They transported agricultural products such as, “cotton, corn, tobacco,
wheat, oats, rye, broom corn, sweet and Irish potatoes, peaches, pears, figs, grapes, and
almost every fruit and vegetable that will grow out of the tropics”, and staple crops such
as rice, corn, and tobacco were also important to the economy of the region.15 The
Culpeper/Ellet farm may have been growing any one of these in its day.
On a larger scale, the railroad development thus expanded the ‘hinterland’ of
industrial areas to regions further afield.16 For the farmers near Pinners Point, this
translated into a rather abrupt transition from an agrarian to an industrial economy, as
well as an influx of immigrant workers, both for farming and for industrial jobs. In the
most comprehensive history of Norfolk County, author William H. Stewart writes,
“the railroads of this region, as well as the landowners and the people
generally, are thoroughly aroused on the subject of immigration. They do
not want any pauper immigration, but they do want thrifty and reputable
farmers to come in and utilize the resources that are lying to waste. They
realize the great benefits to the whole section that would accompany a
large increase in population.”17
This way of thinking highlights the prevalent assumption that the hinterland, hitherto
inaccessible to farmers due to its distance from transportation, was lying in waste, and in
need of development to take advantage of its worth.
15
Stewart, 306
See Cronon, William. Nature’s Metropolis. Chapt. 3-5. for an in-depth discussion of the concept of the
hinterland in relationship to industrial development.
17
Stewart, 306
16
DiBianca 12
Just two years later, the railroad and therefore those occupying the area close to
Pinners Point expanded south into North Carolina. Or rather, the railroad permitted North
Carolinian goods and residents to spread north to Portsmouth. In 1888 the Western
Branch Railway was absorbed by the Chowan and Southern Railroad, which had been
constructed by men in logging industry: Theophilus Tunis of Baltimore and
Goldsborough M. Serpell of Norfolk. These entrepreneurs laid 26 miles of track south
from Tunis, NC on Chowan River. Ten miles of track were added by the American
Construction Company to connect north to Drivers, VA and south to Tarboro, NC, so that
by 1900, the newly dubbed Norfolk and Carolina Railroad stretched 100 miles from
Tarboro to Pinners Point. At this point the N &C Railroad was a subsidiary of the
Atlantic Coast Line, giving the southern line access to northern ports. This port access
was made possible through steam tugs which brought goods to the larger shipping ports
in Norfolk to be transported up the bay. To fill this need, the N&C RR purchased the
steam tug “Pinners Point” in 1891 (fig. 9).18 The railroad proved to be an important link
in the Atlantic Coast Despatch – a fast running line from the south through Pinners Point
and later the NYP&N terminal at Port Norfolk up to northern ports.19
The Southern Railway returned to the Pinners Point story in 1896 when it
received track rights to 151 miles of Atlantic Coast Line, including the N&C RR from
Tarboro to Pinners Point. J. Pierpont Morgan began the previously stalled railroad.20
Together, the two railroads constructed deep sea terminals at Pinners Point, fulfilling
what contemporaries saw as a basic need of any railroad wishing to be successful. Author
18
Prince, 19
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company. The Story of the Atlantic Coast Line, 1830-1930. (Wilmington,
NC: Wilmington Stamp and Printing Company, 1930).
20
Prince, 19
19
DiBianca 13
William H. Stewart outlines the importance of this terminal to the Southern Railway as
follows:
“The Southern has wide ramifications and is connected with every road
worthy [of] the name in the South. Nearly all of this the Southern had
before it came to this port, but the port was necessary, as the Southern had
no great deep-water terminus, and to keep pace with the time must have
one. In looking over the coast line the very natural selection fell here, and
the great plant of miles of shifting track, immense warehouses and other
necessary adjuncts of a port terminal were built.” 21
Following the construction of the deep water terminus in 1900, the railroads
organized the Chesapeake Steamship Company to connect them northward to Baltimore.
Also in this year, the Norfolk and Carolina Railroad was consolidated into the Atlantic
Coast Line Railroad. The Atlantic Coast Line owned two tugs at Pinners Point: the
Pinners Point (built 1891), and the Norfolk (built 1907). These tugs towed barges and
‘car floats’, as well as a passenger barge, “York,” nicknamed “Noah’s Ark.” The ‘Ark’
went from the Atlantic Coast Line in Norfolk (located at west York St) to a passenger
pier at Pinners Point where it connected with trains. Freight to Norfolk went by barge to
the Coast line wharf in Norfolk.22
In1898 the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad was authorized by the legislature
of Virginia to purchase the Petersburg Railroad and name the consolidation (less than 100
miles) “Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company of Virginia.” On April 21, 1900, the
Atlantic Coast Line RR Company of South Carolina, Wilmington and Weldon, Norfolk
and Carolina, and other railroads were sold to and merged with the ACLRC of VA,
21
22
Stewart, 306
Prince, 19, 53
DiBianca 14
which then changed name to Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company. All total, this line
ran from Richmond to Charleston, with branch and feeder lines in Virginia and North and
South Carolina. By 1925 the Atlantic Coast Line had expanded with double tracks from
Richmond to Jacksonville.23 The junction at Pinner’s Point no doubt benefited from this
expansion, as was evidenced by its swift development once the Ellets sold their land to
developers in 1900.
Land Development and Sugar Hill’s Golden Years
During this time was when the value of the Culpeper/Ellet land drastically shifted
from one of agrarian value to one of transportation value, through the building of the
railroad. This transition is made startlingly clear on this land in particular, as the railroad
cut through the land, resulting in its development – moving from single family ownership
and farming to sliced up parcels owned by developers and later the workers of Sugar Hill.
As predicted by the division of the Ellet land in 1880, the coming of the railroad would
have dramatic impacts on both land use and settlement patterns to the south of the
Pinners Point terminals.
In 1894, Emeline put her land in the holding of Norman Cassell, a trustee, and the
firm of T.J. Wool, H.L. Maynard and A.J Phillips. Seemingly, she fell into financial
trouble, and the land was held for her, and sold in order to pay off her debts.24 Her
nephew, Robert H. Elliot (or Ellet) likewise sold his land in 1897 to the Pinner’s Point
Home Company for development. A close look at the plats owned by the Pinners Point
Home Company in 1897 and 1900 shows the developers’ intentions to fill their newly
23
24
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company, 16
Norfolk County Grantor Book 234, p. 533
DiBianca 15
purchased land with dense housing (figs.10-11). The lots as they are laid out in the plat
maps are a mere 25 by 85 feet, with some larger plats, lot 79 in particular left for Emeline
Thomas to live on, and a few other blocks of lots labeled with her name but subdivided
nonetheless. Though the lots as drawn on
the 1900 map extend into the creek, Sanborn
maps of the time show no alteration to the
shoreline, suggesting that the home company
did not invest as much in the development as
originally intended. The plat maps also give
a good depiction of the juxtaposition of
Figure 10: Plat Map of Pinners Point Home
Company Land, 1897 (reproduced in Appendix)
planned housing with the railroad. The area
now known as Sugar Hill occupies the land to
the south of the railroad on the maps, though the
names of all of the roads have changed over
time. It is clear that though this area is close to
Figure 11: Plat Map of Emeline Ellet's/
PPHC land, 1900 (reproduced in Appendix)
the railroad, it is not nearly so much so as the
proposed development to the north. Though the
land labeled as ‘Rodger’s Land’ was later developed, Sugar Hill retained its separation
from the railroad over the years because of the arm of Scott’s Creek just to its north.
Soon after being sold to the Pinners Point Home Company, Emeline Thomas’
land developed into a workers community. Based on Sanborn maps, the first homes
appeared in the area between 1900, when the land was sold, and 1920. By 1920, tiny
twelve foot wide duplexes occupied the 25 by 85 foot lots, doubling the presumably
DiBianca 16
intended occupancy (fig.12). Sharing parti-walls maximized land utility and materials,
but it is unclear whether this density
was necessitated by the low-salaried
residents, or a decision of the
developers to get the most out of the
land as possible. Presumably, it was a
combination of both. Migrating
workers would have wanted their own
home as a part of the suburbanization
trend of the era, and the Pinners Point
Home Company monopolized on this
desire by creating the smallest version
of this goal that they could. The
Figure 12: 1920-1950 Sanborn Map, showing Sugar Hill
in right center (Courtesy Portsmouth Public Library,
reproduced in Appendix)
density, however, is most likely what
gave the area its neighborhood quality,
linking residents together in ways now but fond memories of the few remaining elderly
residents of Sugar Hill.
It seems the class and racial characteristics of the developed Pinners Point area
was grounded in the existing population of the area; as discussed earlier, in the 1880
census, the area around Pinners Point was already made up of a heavily black population.
The community of laborers that migrated to the area was similarly black, unskilled
workers. One could speculate that the farm labor force in this area was simply transferred
over to the railroad labor force, and of course supplemented by heavy migration from
DiBianca 17
North Carolina and other southern states. The demographic, at least, retained its ethnicity
during industrialization – and continuing to present day.
A publication by the Atlantic Coast Line public relations department in 1930,
functioning as an advertisement for the railroad, also cites the importance of laborers in
its construction. It states,
”The Atlantic Coast Line, however, is not merely a big railroad. The
constituent companies of the Atlantic Coast Line were built and operated
by the people of the sections they served, and when merged into the
present organization their employees brought with them that tradition of
loyalty to their employers, pride in their occupation and intimate
knowledge of the people and transportation needs of their communities,
which makes the Atlantic Coast Line so integral a part of the economic life
of the Southeast.”25
Though Pinners Point and the Ellet/Culpeper land was not formally owned by the Pinners
Point Home Company until 1900, it is likely that workers moved to the area just after
1880 in order to construct the Norfolk and Carolina Railroad, later moving into the
shotgun homes so conveniently located next to their place of work.
The Industrial Labor Force
The development of Sugar Hill falls within a larger trend of black suburbanization
occurring in the early 1900s, during the Great Migration, a movement of over 1 million
blacks out of the South and into northern cities. While most migrants moved into the city,
approximately 15 percent of such migrants between 1910 and 1940 settled in suburbs. In
an article focused on Cleveland suburb Chagrin Falls Park, Andrew Wiese describes a
25
Atlantic Coast Line, 20
DiBianca 18
neighborhood which must have been very like Sugar Hill, providing a framework for its
development, and connecting Sugar Hill to a larger trend.26
While Virginia is just below the Mason Dixon line, the Portsmouth area grew
steadily with an influx of freed black workers. By 1910, the Western Branch District of
Norfolk County was in the middle of its inevitable transition from an agrarian to an
industrial workforce. Both 1910 and 1920 census records show the majority of Sugar
Hill’s original residents as being North Carolinians who moved to the area to work on the
railroad, which put Pinner’s Point on the map.27
Land Developers
Propaganda published by the railroad companies may have contributed to the
population influx in Norfolk in the early 1900s by appealing not only to those coming to
work on the railroad, but to those who would utilize the new transportation and
development in the south to reap its benefits. A pamphlet published by the Norfolk and
Western Railroad in 1910 entitled, ‘Go South Young Man” quotes Chauncey Depew in
an address to Yale alumni as saying that the land in Virginia is one of many natural
resources that are of yet untapped, that Virginia has, “the best climate in the world,” and,
“conditions of health that are unparalleled.” At the bottom of the pamphlet, readers are
urged to go to Virginia with an increasing level of excitement:
26
Wiese, Andrew. “The Other Suburbanites: African American Suburbanization in the North Before 1950,”
Journal of American History 85 (March 1999), p. 1496.
27
U.S. Bureau of the Census. Thirteenth Census of the United States: 1910 Population. Western Branch
District, Norfolk County, Virginia. 16 Apri,l 1910. Sheets 1-2A. Prepared by the Department of Commerce
and Labor Bureau of the Census.
DiBianca 19
“GO TO VIRGINIAWhere the Development is the Widest!
Where the Opportunities are the Greatest!!
Where all are Welcome!!!”28
Migrants of the sort who most likely responded to this call, however, would more likely
have been investors in the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad than laborers who built it up.
Those who bought and developed the Ellet’s land into Sugar Hill led very
different lives from those who occupied it. The man who secured Emeline Ellet’s
property in 1900, TJ Wool, was a general practice lawyer living in Norfolk proper.
Originally from New York, he lived in Petersburg at the age of 14, where his father was a
sash and door maker. The family lived at 101 Bollingbrook Road. Presumably, this was a
middle to upper class area of the city, as the 1880 census shows that many of the Wools’
neighbors had servants in their homes.29 Between 1880 and 1920, Mr. Wool moved to
Norfolk in Madison Ward.30
The president of the Pinners Point Home Company also came from an upper to
middle class background. In 1910, just as Sugar Hill was beginning to flourish, Mr.
Jonathan L. Watson was the president of a bank at 47 years old. He and his family,
consisting of a wife, two daughters, and a son, lived at 225 Hatton Street in Portsmouth
City.31
28
Depew, Chauncey M. “Go South, Young Man.” As referenced in a pamphlet produced by the Norfolk
and Western Railroad Company. (Roanoke, Virginia: Norfolk and Western Railroad Company, ca. 1910).
29
U.S. Bureau of the Census. Inhabitants in Petersburg, in the County of Dinwiddie, State of Virginia. 9
June, 1880. p 11.
30
U.S. Bureau of the Census. Thirteenth Census of the United States: 1920 Population. Madison Ward,
Norfolk City, Norfolk County, Virginia. 9 January, 1920. Sheet 5A. Prepared by the Department of
Commerce and Labor Bureau of the Census.
31
U.S. Bureau of the Census. Thirteenth Census of the United States: 1910 Population. Portsmouth City,
Norfolk County, Virginia. 19 April, 1910. Sheet 2B. Prepared by the Department of Commerce and Labor
Bureau of the Census.
DiBianca 20
An Unlikely Suburb
Blacks moving to the area may have been looking not only for employment, but
also for the elusive construct of the suburban dream. Wiese points out that
suburbanization was not a phenomenon experienced solely by white middle and upper
classes, but that blacks and other classes were often just as eager to flee the city to find a
better life32. Just outside of more northern cities, blacks could afford “many of the same
things as other suburbanites, including homes of their own, a bucolic landscape, and
family-centered community life.”33 Thanks to the railroad, residents found all of these in
Sugar Hill.
Wiese states that, like other suburbanites of the era, black suburbanites “rejected
city living, and they re-created rustic landscapes reminiscent of the region from which
most had come.”34 While this was decidedly true in the case of Sugar Hill, as is still
evidenced today by the large flower and vegetable gardens in many side yards, it seems
that this ‘rustic landscape’ stemmed less from an aesthetic desire to recreate a rural
landscape than a more basic need for survival. Wiese addresses this trend as well, stating
that, “workers were more likely than middle-class suburbanites to view their home as a
basis for economic survival – as a source of income through renting rooms, as a
supplement to wages through garden produce and backyard livestock…”35
The 1910 census shows a clear shift in the economy of the area around then
developed Sugar Hill (see table 2 ). The Culpepers still lived next to one another.
Presumably brothers, both Joshua and David Culpeper worked on the river as an
32
Wiese, 1497
Ibid, 1496
34
Ibid, 1499
35
Ibid, 1500
33
DiBianca 21
oysterman and a fisherman, respectively. David’s son, David R. Culpeper, worked in a
shop as a molder, showing even within the family a shift from an agrarian focus to one of
industrial labor. Neighbors demonstrate the same trend: established residents worked in
the agrarian sector either on the land as farm laborers, or on the water as oyster- or
fishermen. Newer workers, often from North Carolina, and many of them mulatto, were
more likely to be employed in industrial jobs.36 Perhaps because of lower wages, or
perhaps due to the development of the area and a perceived need for ‘more’ to survive,
the female population of Sugar Hill became more involved in the work force in the 1900s.
Thus around 1910 the Western Branch of the Elizabeth River (as the district was named)
experienced a shift in economies, which in turn brought in a new labor force, laying the
social framework for the success of Sugar Hill in the 1920s.
Upon first being built, the neighborhood now known as Sugar Hill was much
more of a suburb than its current state as an enclave surrounded by the swooping
transportation lines of Portsmouth would lead one to believe. By studying Sanborn maps
from the time, it becomes apparent that the area was not of importance to insurance
companies until the 1920s, and even then was on the fringe of Portsmouth’s quickly
expanding development. But the homes built by the Pinner’s Point Home Company
differed from the prominent suburban ideal of being located at a commuting distance
from employment. Residents were literally hemmed in by the railroad as it cut through
the west side of the development and north to the yards on Pinner’s Point. Residents’
labor was therefore ever-present on this side of the neighborhood.
36
U.S. Bureau of the Census. Thirteenth Census of the United States: 1910 Population. Western Branch
District, Norfolk County, Virginia. 16 Apri,l 1910. Sheets 1-2A. Prepared by the Department of Commerce
and Labor Bureau of the Census.
DiBianca 22
However, residents did have a natural feature which provided both a physical and
a mental barrier between their home and working lives. Though not of great width or
depth, Scott’s Creek acted as the distancing agent in this effective suburb, its watery
surface providing the healing rural landscape which suburbanites so desired, while a
bridge spanning the banks linked residents to work and social spaces. The streetcar, in
this case, was essentially replaced by a footbridge as both the dividing line and the link
between home life and labor.
Unlike so called ‘streetcar suburbs,’ which also relied on transportation lines for
their development, Sugar Hill was developed as a workers’ town, serving the railroad
rather than commuting on it.37 However, like the streetcar, the railroad connected the area
to a vast network of truck farmers, distributors, and large industrialized cities. A streetcar
line to the north of the railroad connected residents to the northwestern community of
Port Norfolk, but this being a predominantly white community, the connections were not
so strong as those within the community of Sugar Hill itself. Thus Sugar Hill embodies
Weiss’ argument that, “In contrast to the middle-class model, the metropolitan fringe
before 1945 was a variegated landscape that included factories, workers’ housing, and
ethnic white enclaves, as well as middle-class commuter suburbs.”38 A glance at the
Sanborn map spanning from 1920 to 1950 shows this variety in the relatively small area
around Sugar Hill, with the railroad, a factory, and housing all functioning side by side
(fig.12).
This Sanborn, with its overlays and deletions, points to the 1920s and decades
directly surrounding as the clear heyday of Sugar Hill. The area boasted five stores, two
37
For an in-depth discussion of streetcar suburbs, see Borchert, James, “Visual Landscapes of a Streetcar
Suburb,” chapter 2 in Paul Groth and Todd W. Bressi, Eds., Understanding Ordinary Landscapes
38
Wiese, 1499
DiBianca 23
churches, and a school by 1921, but by 1950 one store remained, and many homes had
been replaced by larger single family homes, or completely removed. Sugar Hill thus
falls in between Paul Groth’s defined ‘workers’ cottages’ and ‘minimal-bungalow’
districts. While the neighborhood was planned, as indicated on plats and Sanborn maps,
to be somewhat uniform – like workers cottages - over time it was more of an accretion
of forms and uses based on user needs – like Groth’s defined minimal bungalow homes.
Present day development testifies to this trend; many homes in the neighborhood today
are duplexes converted into single family homes.
Just as the development of Pinner’s Point was jumpstarted by the railroad, so too
were the glory days of Sugar Hill in the 1920s most likely a result of the accompanying
success of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. In a pamphlet produced in 1924, the railroad
boasts of a comeback after federal ownership of the railroads ended in 1920, writing,
“For the American railroads, starting in 1920, bunged up by their rough handling under
Federal control, crippled by injury to their credit, and with the hardest schedule they had
ever faced, have staged a comeback that has been more spectacular in its own way than a
world flight or the winning of the Olympic games, a world’s series or a football
championship.”39 The pamphlet cites a surge in efficiency in the past 4 years due to
raising 3 billion dollars, and claims that the rail line in 1924 was moving 10 percent more
freight per week than 5 years previous. But the railroad was not the only defining
characteristic of the lives of the workers she employed from Sugar Hill.
Drawings by current resident of Sugar Hill, Billy Stanley, composed for a
“Pinner’s Point Reunion” in the 1990s highlight his experience of the neighborhood in
39
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company. More World’s Champions. (Wilmington, North Carolina:
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company, 1924).
DiBianca 24
the 1920s as one dominated by both the railroad and the creek. While the railroad was
clearly important as a source of income for men, and the nearby basket factory as the
same for women (figs.13-15, in appendix), the creek seems to have embodied suburban
ideals for those living in Sugar Hill in the 1920s and surrounding decades. Mr. Stanley
depicts the creek as a source of leisure; in one drawing he recalls a Saturday on the creek
bank, with crabs, watermelon, and lemonade for all (fig. 16, in appendix). Scott’s Creek
was also, like the undeveloped land in many workers’ suburbs, a source of sustenance:
two drawings show men pulling crabs out of the water, and another describes washing
day at the creek (fig. 17, in appendix). The creek served as a connection, as shown in his
drawing of the bridge across the creek to ‘Pleasure Hill’ – where both the railroad and a
community center drew residents (fig. 18, in appendix). And the water had spiritual
significance as well; in perhaps the most poignant of Mr. Stanley’s drawings, a believer is
being baptized in Scott’s Creek (fig. 19, in appendix).
These drawings make it clear that though the land and the lives of those who
occupied it were drastically altered by the railroad at Pinners Point, yet the creek gave the
community of Sugar Hill a link to nature and the area’s agrarian past. This juxtaposition
is important, as it highlights the water’s influence on the site as both one of the inevitable
process of industrialization, but also as a means of retaining its roots.
DiBianca 25
Present Day Sugar Hill
On visits to Sugar Hill, I was lucky enough to talk to some of the people who still
call it home. A current resident of Sugar Hill remarked that he remembers playing in the
now nonexistent graveyard during school. Ms. Yvonne Stanley fondly reminisced about
the grand homes, as well as her old home, and recalled playing in Scott’s Creek growing
up. The graveyard is no longer visible, though it is possibly buried under the remnants of
the razed school building. Grand homes exist only across the freeway in Port Norfolk –
the freeway that covers where Ms. Stanley’s old home once stood. And Scott’s Creek? It
remains, polluted, seemingly almost stagnant, and inaccessible to residents due to years’
worth of garbage dumped on the banks by the city of Portsmouth.
Since 1952, when the steam tug lines ceased to run out of Pinners Point40 and the
colored school in Sugar Hill was torn down, the community has been physically divided,
and all but destroyed, by the transportation that has defined the area for centuries. The
ethnicity of the area surely played a role in its being cut through by the Martin Luther
King Freeway and the Norfolk-Portsmouth Tunnel in the 60’s, and may have possibly
played a role even in the 1880s as the railroad sliced through Emeline Thomas’ land.
Remarkably, however, the tiny but tight knit community survives. Though
development has thrived on a transportation-related connection to the water and
essentially wrenched riparian rights from community members’ hands, Scott’s Creek has
ultimately saved Sugar Hill. The wooded western edge of the community is a stark
contrast to the overpass clearly visible in the east. This wood and the creek beyond are
remnants of the long past agrarian nature of Norfolk County, a nature preserved by Sugar
Hill’s inhabitants over the years out of both necessity and a desire for suburban life.
40
Prince, 53
DiBianca 26
Though the area’s development has been consumed by the utility of water much like that
described by Richard White in his book The Organic Machine41, residents held onto a
link to nature by focusing on the water as well because of suburban ideals, a basic need
for survival, and a current sense of nostalgia for the neighborhood they once knew.
Figure 20: View of Scott's Creek in Present Day Sugar Hill (courtesy of author)
41
White, Richard. The Organic Machine. (New York: Hill and Wang, 1995), introduction and chaps. 1-3.
Works Cited
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company. More World’s Champions. (Wilmington, North
Carolina: Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company, 1924).
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company. The Story of the Atlantic Coast Line, 1830-1930.
(Wilmington, NC: Wilmington Stamp and Printing Company, 1930).
Depew, Chauncey M. “Go South, Young Man.” As referenced in a pamphlet produced by
the Norfolk and Western Railroad Company. (Roanoke, Virginia: Norfolk and
Western Railroad Company, ca. 1910).
Groth, Paul. “Workers’-Cottage and Minimal Bungalow Districts in Oakland and
Berkeley, California, 1870-1945,” Urban Morphology 8, no. 1 (2004): 13-25.
Newby-Alexander, Cassandra, Ph.D, Mae Breckenridge-Haywood, and the African
American Historical Society of Portsmouth. Portsmouth Virginia. Black
American Series. (Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing, 2003).
Norfolk County Historical Society of Chesapeake, Virginia. An Historical Review.
(Chesapeake, Virginia: The Society, 1966).
Prince, Richard E. Atlantic Coast Line Railroad: Steam Locomotives Ships and History.
(Salt Lake City, Utah: The Wheelwright Lithographing Company, 1966).
Stewart, William Henry. History of Norfolk County Virginia and Representative Citizens
1637-1900. (Chicago, Illinois: Biographical Publishing Company, 1902).
Village Register and Norfolk County Advertise, 4 October, 1827 vol. 8 Issue 51, pg. 2
Watts, Leigh Richmond, Ed. by Charles B. Cross, Jr. A Historical Sketch of Norfolk
County. Delivered at Berkley, July 4th, 1876, by Request of the Board of
Supervisors. (Chesapeake, Virginia: Norfolk County Historical Society, 1964).
White, Richard. The Organic Machine. (New York: Hill and Wang, 1995), introduction
and chaps. 1-3.
Wiese, Andrew. “The Other Suburbanites: African American Suburbanization in the
North Before 1950,” Journal of American History 85 (March 1999): 1495-1524.
Yarsinske, Amy Waters. The Elizabeth River. (Charleston, South Carolina: The History
Press, 2007).
Census Records
U.S. Bureau of the Census. Inhabitants in Halls Corner Voting Precinct, in the County of
Norfolk, State of Virginia. 15 June, 1880. pp. 72-74.
USBC. Inhabitants in Jackson Ward, in the County of Norfolk, State of Virginia. 35
August, 1860. p 174.
USBC. Inhabitants in Petersburg, in the County of Dinwiddie, State of Virginia. 9 June,
1880. p 11.
USBC. Inhabitants in Portsmouth, in the County of Norfolk, State of Virginia. 12 June,
1880. p 44.
USBC. Inhabitants in Tanners Creek [illegible], in the County of Norfolk, State of
Virginia. 14 June, 1880. pp 35, 37.
USBC. Thirteenth Census of the United States: 1910 Population. Western Branch
District, Norfolk County, Virginia. 16 Apri,l 1910. Sheets 1-2A. Prepared by the
Department of Commerce and Labor Bureau of the Census.
USBC. Thirteenth Census of the United States: 1910 Population. Portsmouth City,
Norfolk County, Virginia. 19 April, 1910. Sheet 2B. Prepared by the Department
of Commerce and Labor Bureau of the Census.
USBC. Thirteenth Census of the United States: 1920 Population. Madison Ward, Norfolk
City, Norfolk County, Virginia. 9 January, 1920. Sheet 5A. Prepared by the
Department of Commerce and Labor Bureau of the Census.
USBC. Twelfth Census of the United States, Schedule No. 1. – Population. Third Ward,
Portsmouth, Norfolk County, Virginia. 8 June, 1900. Sheet 7.
Table 1: Population of Norfolk County
(From A History of Norfolk County and Representative Citizens, pp. 318-320)
Population of N.County over time, based on titheables
(all free male persons over the age of 16, extended to cover all male servants)
Year
Population
1644
296
1690
1097
Split be/ Princess Anne and Norfolk Counties
1691
772
1740
1799
1789
4247
Norfolk County Population
Year
1790 14524
1800
1810
1820
1830
1840
1850
1860
1870
1880
1890
1900
Total
9179
19419
22872
23943
24896
27569
33036
36227
46702
58657
77038
50780
White
11960
13400
13260
13314
15444
20329
24357
24380
29197
37497
19113
Free
5345
1498
1898
2300
2307
2803
22320
29453
39,478
31189
Slaves Chinese, Japs. & Inds.
7459
9472
9185
9594
99735
10400
9004
63
2
7
63
478
Population of Norfolk County (outside of Norfolk and Portsmouth)
in 1900 by districts:
Butts Road
Deep Creek
Pleasant Grove
Tanner’s Creek
Washington (including Berkley town – 4988)
Western Branch
Total
1821
3454
2974
13077
11515
17939
50780
Table 2: Western Branch Economy, 1910
Agrarian
Job
Farmer
Oysterman
Farmer
Farmer
Fisherman
Farm Laborer
Farmer
Farmer
Oysterplanter
Farmer
Oysterplanter
Oysterman
Oysterman
Fisherman
Farm Laborer
Farm Laborer
Oysterer
Farm Laborer
Total
NC
VA
Female
White
Black
Mulatto
Location
Truck
River
Truck
Truck
River
Working out
Truck
Truck
River
Truck
River
River
River
River
Working Out
Working Out
River
Working Out
Race
W
W
W
Mu
Mu
B
W
W
W
W
W
W
W
W
Mu
Mu
Mu
Mu
Age
45 M
25 M
56 M
27 M
47 M
65 M
52 M
57 M
45 M
54 M
47 M
72 M
44 M
50 M
39 M
27 F
32 M
28 F
Home State
NC
VA
VA
NC
VA
NC
VA
VA
VA
VA
VA
VA
VA
VA
VA
VA
VA
VA
Household Status
Head
Head (5 kids none work)
Head
Head (Hodges)
Head
Head
Head (R.Shea)
Brother (W. Shea)
Brother (R. Shea)
Head (J. Shea)
Head (E. Shea) (non-work:3 children, sister in law )
Father (John B. Cotton Sr.)
Head (Joshua Culpeper - 4 children, none work)
Head (David Culpeper - 3 children, 1 work)
Head
Wife
Head
Wife of above
18
3
15
2
11
1
6
1 of 3
Industrial
Job
Box Maker
Car Repairer
Blacksmith
Bolt__
Machinist Helper
Book Keeper
Brass Finisher
Machinist
Boilerman
Brakeman
Fireman
Fireman
Freight Trucker
Brakeman
Laborer
Sectionman
Trucker
Se___
Location
Hoisery Mill
Railroad
Railroad
Rail Road Shop
Railroad
Packing House
Mechanic Shop
Railroad
RR
RR
Locomotive
Navy Yard
RR
RR
RR
RR
Chemical Factory
RR
Chemical Factory
Brakeman
RR
Machinist
Barrel Factory
Nightwatchman
RR
Driller
Machine Shop
Molder
Shop
Car Cleaner
RR
Fireman
Barrel Factory
Section Man
RR
Laborer
Factory
Laborer
RR
Truckee Chemical Factory
Truckee Chemical Factory
Total
NC
VA
Female
Race
W
W
W
W
W
W
W
W
B
B
B
Mu
Mu
Mu
Mu
Mu
B
B
B
B
W
W
W
W
Mu
Mu
Mu
Mu
Mu
Mu
Mu
31
13
18
2
Age
Home State
23 F
VA
28 M
VA
28 M
VA
16 M
VA
36 M (cuVA
27 M
VA
25 M
VA
25 M
VA
44 M
VA
36 M
NC
34 M
NC
33 M
VA
27 M
VA
35 M
NC
28 M
NC
24 M
NC
31 M
NC
35 M
VA
32 M
VA
30 M
NC
35 M
NC
49 M
VA
47 M
VA
23 M
VA
35 F
NC
39 M
NC
38 M
VA
20 M
VA
40 M
NC
19 M
NC
17 M
NC
White
Black
Mulatto
12
7
12
Household Status
Daughter
Head
Son of 56 M
Head
Brother
Lodger
Head
Head (5 kids none work)
Head
Head (w/ adopted son)
Head
Lodger
Lodger
Lodger
Head
Brother of above
Son of left
Brother in Law of above house painter
Head
Head (John B. Cotton, Jr.)
Son (David R. Culpeper)
Head (Lewis)
Lodger w/ Lewis
Lodger w/ White
Brother in law of L
Head (Bowden)
Son (Bowden)
Son (Bowden)
2 of 3
Other
Job
Painter
Painter
Cook
Painter
Laundress
Laundress
Keeper
Laborer
Laundress
Painter
Carpenter
Carpenter
Laundress
Total
NC
VA
Female
White
Black
Mulatto
Location
House
House
Private Family
House
At Home
At Home
Boarding House
Odd Jobs
Private Family
House
Boat
House
Working Out
Race
W
Mu
Mu
B
B
B
Mu
B
B
W
W
W
Mu
13
6
5
6
4
5
4
Age
28 M
27 M
18 F
50 M
F 41
24 F
21 F
50 M
30 F
54 M
52 M
25 M
30 F
Home State
GA
SC
NC
NC
NC
NC
NC
VA
VA
NC
VA
VA
VA
Household Status
Head
Head
Lodger
Head
Wife
Head
Head (2 children don't work)
Head (6 children don't work, widower)
Daughter of above
Head
Head (K. Shea)
Son (John, of J. Shea)
Head (White)
Total
NC
VA
Female
White
Black
Mulatto
Overall Totals
62
22
38
10
27
13
22
3 of 3
Figure 2
Appendix 1
Figure 7
Appendix 2
Figures 10,11
Appendix 3
Figure 12
Appendix 4
Figure 13
Appendix 5
Figure 14
Appendix 6
Figure 15
Appendix 7
Figure 16
Appendix 8
Figure 17
Appendix 9
Figure 18
Appendix 10
Figure 19
Appendix 11