Coal and Hardware (1919), it also was owned by “Captain” John Hopkins,
and later his sons, Charles T. and A. Stephen. Hopkin’s establishment
included an ice house and a coal-generated electric plant located behind the
hardware store. ANEC still owns the electric plant site. The Hopkins
brothers went to business school in Rochester, NY, and a classmate invited
them back to Parksley to see the business potential of electric generation.
Charles convinced his father to invest in this capital venture, creating a
power company called J.H. and C.T. Hopkins. At the main intersection,
cross over and walk along the downtown sidewalk of Dunne Avenue.
Parksley’s downtown endured two res, one on June 3, 1896 and another
March 2, 1954. What is the Club Car Cafe now was originally Dr. William
Gogon’s drugstore, built in 1966. You can step inside, walk through the
bar into the banquet room (which was formerly Farmers and Merchants
Bank) and see a large mural of Parksley in 1920. D.H. Johnson and Son’s
Department Store was in the three story building until the 1950s.
5. Library, Bank and Drugstore. On the corner of Dunne Avenue. and
Cooke Street is a landmark brick building. Accomack Banking Co. operated
until the Depression. During World War II, the building served as a draft
board. The Selective Service Clerk was D. Frank White, a WWI veteran. In
1959, Jeerson C. Grinnalds started the Twyford Memorial Library with his
large book collection and endowed the library, but the library lasted only
briey. The building later became Runninger’s Pharmacy, which closed in
2017.
6. Old Hotel, 24316 Cooke St. On the right/south corner of Cooke Street
and Virginia Avenue, is a three story white building that served as a hotel,
owned by Will Young of Justisville. It was turned into apartments for WWII
veterans as housing became scarce when servicemen returned home after the
war. A building boom started after the war. One hundred six Parksley lots
were sold in six months. Turn down Cooke Street. Walk o ne blo ck and turn
left onto Browne Avenue.
7. Browne Avenue. This street was named after Congressman Thomas
Henry Bayly Browne, the lawyer for Parksley Land and Improvement Co.
He took his salary in lots, which his wife sold.
23. Shirt Factory – The large white building, one of the few four-story
buildings on the Shore, was a shirt factory. Originally, it served as
Mahews wholesale and retail hardware store. The shirt factory opened
in 1937 and was one of four on the Eastern Shore, the others being in
Exmore, Tangier, and Chincoteague. It employed 175 people at its peak.
Ladies who worked at the factory would get lunch at local stores and shop
before going home. The closing of the factory certainly hurt Parksley’s
economy. Of note are the stone-look blocks from which it is made. These
were produced in Greenbush by the Charles Russell Co. and are an
interesting building material that you will nd on the Shore. Walk to the
intersection and cross back over the train tracks to the parking lot.
We hope you have enjoyed the tour. To learn more about Parksley and
Eastern Shore history, visit the Railroad Museum and our many ne shops
and restaurants. Our new Eastern Shore Regional Library and the Eastern
Shore of Virginia Heritage Center are expected to open in 2019.
Whitesville
South of Parksley is Whitesville, with a population of 219 in 2010. Likely
named after Harry White, an early landowner, Whitesville was developed
by Miss Lizzie Chadbourne when she bought 50 acres. When Parksley was
incorporated in 1904, Whitesville was excluded from the town limits, in-
tentionally segregating the African American community. The neighbor-
hood is roughly bordered by Va. 316, Lee Mont Road, Staunton Road, and
Willis Street. Whitesville boasted several establishments:
Whitesville Elementary School. End of Leslie Trent Road, o Staunton
Avenue. Built in 1925 with $900 from the Rosenwald* Foundation, $1,700
from the black community, and the remaining $4,150 from public funds. It
was a “3 teacher” type school and operated until 1964 when schools were
consolidated with the opening of North Accomack Elementary School for
African American students. Schools here were not fully integrated until
1970. Currently, it serves as the International Brotherhood of Yahshua’s
Disciples (IBOYD) meeting place.