Peninsula In Passage

Churches The Church of England was the official church for residents of the Bennett’s Creek area since settlers arrived in the 1630s. The original Glebe Church structure was built in 1643 on Bennett’s Creek near Driver and rebuilt in 1737-38, remaining the center of Episcopal worship to the present day. Richard Bennett sponsored scores of Puritan immigrants in the 1640s and his later friendship with George Fox helped open the door to Quaker settlers in the area who, like the Puritans, felt welcome to settle in Nansemond County. Most of the Quaker population settled in the village of Somerton south of Suffolk town. Education Colonial beliefs in education mirrored those of England. Large landowners believed that education was a private function and used a system of private tutors. The only “public” schooling was in the form of charitable aid for orphans and indigents. Trade apprenticeship laws of the 17th century followed English law. A general law of 1705 “compelled” masters to teach orphans in their charge to read and write. Community private schools established during the colonial period were usually cooperative ventures among neighbors. They were often known as “Old Field” schools because they were frequently located in fields that were no longer used for farming. Tuition fees, agreed on by the teacher and parents, financed these schools. Bridge to the Future Change on the rural farming peninsula accelerated with the coming of bridges and paved roads in the late 1920s. The James River Bridge System and U.S. Highway 17 connected the farms and villages with the surrounding cities and towns. A trip to downtown anywhere was no longer a full day adventure. Truck farmers who had depended on boats and the railroad had a transportation alternative…trucks. After World War II families began moving from city to suburbs and Nansemond County farmland was prized by those aspiring to be gentleman farmers. Suburban sprawl began to engulf family farms as the US 17 corridor through Bennett’s Creek transitioned from farm to residential by the 1950s. When the road expanded to a four lane divided highway in the 1960s commute time to nearby cities was gauged in minutes, not hours. Farm names disappeared and developments popped up. Arbor Meadows, Deerfield, Nansemond Shores, Bennett’s Harbor, and Holiday Point began sprouting a new crop - rooftops. Homebuyers looking for a home on the water in the peace of the countryside sought out waterfront farmland. Dairies disappeared and landscape nurseries took advantage of agricultural space and an increased demand for plants and shrubs to beautify the new landscape of the peninsula.

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