The Wallace Memorial Room – that room of secrets – just also happens to be the home to the Norfolk County Historical Society. I’m a volunteer in the Wallace Room, and I suppose I am a keeper of secrets in a way. Secrets about Norfolk County’s past -- about success and failure, about stillness and storm, about prosperity and hardship -- about who we are and where we come from.
But I have just got to tell someone!
I’m sure you’ve heard about Colonel William Woodford and the band of Virginia patriots who defeated the British at the Battle of Great Bridge in December 1775. The battle occurred just around the corner from where the library stands today, and the Wallace Room actually has a few Revolutionary War artifacts, including cannonballs from the battle that local residents have found while digging in their backyards!
And have you heard about the buried treasure in Deep Creek? Some say it may still be out there somewhere in the Great Dismal Swamp! The Wallace Room collections include information and maps on the history of the Dismal Swamp and the famous canal “surveyed” by George Washington.
And do you know about the Norfolk County $3 Bill? It was authorized by the Norfolk County Court in 1861 to finance the expenses for outfitting local volunteer companies of the Confederate Army. Information about Norfolk County’s involvement in the Civil War, including Colonel William H. Stewart and the Jackson Grays, is in the Wallace Room collections. It is this history, the stories of Norfolk County and its residents, that the Historical Society aims to preserve -- stories of immigration and adaptation, subjugation and freedom, famine and disease, domination and revolution, Civil War and political unrest, industrialization and urban development.
They are all there in that room – all those stories, all those secrets -- in the books and manuscripts, in the yearbooks and city directories, in the diaries and letters, in the census records as well as deed, will, and marriage indexes -- in the Wallace Room collections.
And I will share them with you -- if you promise not to tell a soul!
I invite you to provide comments, questions, and suggestions for future topics for this blog, From the Wallace Room.
If you are in the Hampton Roads area, I also invite you visit us in the Wallace Room to uncover some secrets of your own, research your genealogy, and learn about the history of Norfolk County. The Historical Society has published a number of books on the history of Norfolk County and the city of Chesapeake, including Chesapeake: A Pictorial History by Charles B. Cross, Jr. and Eleanor Phillips Cross.
For more information, contact us at mailto:NCHS.WallaceRoom@gmail.com.
