NORFOLK, Va. — Several years ago, Reginald Robinson found himself at Buckroe Beach in Hampton, Virginia, trying to point out to his wife exactly where he’d spent so much time as a young kid, playing in the sand.
Living in Richmond in the 1960s, Robinson and his parents would travel often to then-Bay Shore Beach and stay at the Bay Shore Hotel, like thousands of other Black Americans up and down the East Coast.
Back then, there were few options. Black families weren’t allowed at beaches in Ocean View or Virginia Beach, and “you still had no access to public pools or anywhere to cool off,” said Robinson, now 59.
But Bay Shore was like a mecca for young Reginald, he recalled, complete with a merry-go-round and bumper cars. As a kid, he didn’t even notice the fence that ran down the sand, segregating Bay Shore from the much larger and whites-only Buckroe.
Before his time, noted acts such as Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald often played at the hotel.
When Robinson was trying to point out the spots to his wife a little over a decade ago, however, he couldn’t quite remember. Until a few years ago, there was nothing there to indicate Bay Shore ever existed. (A historical marker was put up in 2018.)
Few mementos remain of Bay Shore, which closed and was torn down in 1973 after integration. Buckroe memorabilia is much easier to find.
But there’s one place where you can find Bay Shore’s name reliably in print, preserving its importance to local Black history: the famed “Green Book” that advised Black Americans throughout the Jim Crow era where it was safe to travel, eat and sleep without fear of harm or harassment. (The book was also the subject of the Oscar-winning film of the same name in 2018.)
“A fine resort on the Chesapeake Bay,” an advertisement for Bay Shore reads in the 1962 edition.
A new project from a small team of historians seeks to document every site in Virginia — and eventually, the country — that was listed in the “Green Book,” to ensure places like Bay Shore don’t disappear without a trace.
