The Virginia Department of Historical Resources approved two new historical highway markers for Gloucester during its June 20 meeting, one for Werowocomoco and another for Poplar Spring Church.
It also approved a marker for T.C. Walker School in Bath County, a 1930 Rosenwald school named for Thomas Calhoun Walker of Gloucester.
The Werowocomoco marker will be the second in Gloucester to cite the county as the location of home of the Indian chief known as Powhatan. The new marker, sponsored by the DHR, will be placed on Route 17 or on Route 606 near the Werowocomoco site. It will read as follows:
“The site of Werowocomoco is located nearby at Purtan Bay. This Algonquian Indian settlement was the center of power of the Powhatan paramount chiefdom when the English established James Fort in 1607. Captain John Smith was brought to Werowocomoco as a captive in December 1607 where he met the Powhatan leader Wahunsonacock and his daughter Pocahontas.
“Archaeologists working closely with present-day members of Virginia Indian tribes investigated the site from 2002 to 2010. They documented that Werowocomoco was an extensive settlement, including trenches defining an area of restricted access or sacred space, from the 13th century through the early 17th century.”
The existing marker is on Route 17 northbound near White Marsh and marks Rosewell and Werowocomoco. It reads, “Several miles west is Rosewell, built about 1750, home of the Page family, and the largest of colonial Virginia houses. On York River, probably at Purtan Bay some miles west of Rosewell, was Werowocomoco, chief town of the Indian ruler Powhatan in 1607.” The year on this marker is 1928.
The Werowocomoco site owners have granted the VDR a Virginia Historic Preservation Easement on their property to guarantee its perpetual protection.
The old marker for Poplar Spring Church had a date of 1930 and read as follows: “This is the site of Poplar Spring Church of Petsworth Parish. In 1694, old Petsworth Church was abandoned in favor of this church. It was considered the finest church of colonial Virginia. In 1676, the followers of Bacon, the Rebel, interned here a casket supposed to contain his remains, but in reality filled with stones. The body was secretly buried.”
At some point, the original marker went missing and there were no state funds to replace it. The new, updated marker is sponsored by the Gloucester Historical Committee and will be located at approximately the same site as the original on northbound Route 17 across from Petsworth Elementary School. It will read as follows:
“Petsworth Parish, one of the four parishes of colonial Gloucester County, was established in the middle of the seventeenth century. The first parish church was located some four miles southwest near Purtan Bay on the York River. On this site were built the second and third churches of the parish, both called Poplar Springs Church.
“The first one, built as an earthfast frame structure in 1677, was said to have one of the first three-level pulpits in Virginia. The second church, completed in 1723, was one of the earliest churches in Virginia to have an organ. By the end of the 18th century, the church was abandoned.”
The Bath County sign marking T.C. Walker School is sponsored by Renee Lewis-Cammock and Cliff Gilchrist and will located on T.C. Walker Road in Millboro. It will read as follows:
“T.C. Walker School, which opened in 1930, was named for Thomas Calhoun Walker, a former slave from Gloucester County who became the first African American attorney in Virginia. It cost $4,600, and was underwritten with $500 from the Julius Rosenwald Foundation, $505 from the local African American community, and $3,595 from the county.
“Virginia Turner was one of the longest serving teachers at the school, which had two classrooms, a kitchen, and library and remained open until 1965. This Rosenwald School was one of more than 5,000 built in 15 states between 1917 and 1932 to teach African American children.”
There are two existing markers in Gloucester related to T.C. Walker and his legacy. One is at the site of his home on Main Street and the other marks the location of the Gloucester Training School on T.C. Walker Road.
Walker (1862-1953) was an impetus is founding the training school, which was also partially funded with Rosenwald money. Originally a wooden structure, the school provided post-elementary education opportunities for African Americans. It was replaced by a brick building in 1951 and was renamed for Walker after his death.
T.C. Walker School became Gloucester Intermediate School in 1968 following integration. It was later called Gloucester Middle School and in 1986 became T.C. Walker Elementary School. The elementary school was closed last year as a cost-cutting measure.
The building, recently renamed the Thomas Calhoun Walker Education Center, currently houses the county Head Start program. Gloucester County Public Schools will relocate its administrative offices to the building this fall after a $2.34 million refurbishment is completed.