Kempes Landing

Kempes Landing. . , The Revolution and The New Republic , Prior to English colonization beginning at Jamestown, remnants of the Algonquian-speaking Chesapeake native tribe traversed this area. Three decades after successors to Jamestown began to settle land south of the James River, George Kempe acquired a parcel of land in 1652 at the terminus of the Eastern Branch of the Elizabeth River. Farmers from the interior moved tobacco, and later, timber and grain, into Norfolk via longboats. A drawbridge at Kempes Landing allowed oceangoing sailing ships to enter and dock at warehouses along the riverbank. By the 1740s, the small port was designated as one of the Virginia Colony's official tobacco inspection stations, further elevating the village's stature., In October 1775, the Royal Governor of Virginia, Lord Dunmore, anticipating the use of force by colonists protesting British taxation, made an unsuccessful effort to seize militia weapons and gunpowder in Kempes Landing. This was followed in November by a skirmish on the western edge of the village between Dunmore's British troops and locally assembled militiamen. The militiamen were so ill-equipped, they were nicknamed the "Tattered Shirt Brigade." The death of militiaman John Ackiss and six others, the first fatalities in Virginia, and the imprisonment of Patriot leaders, gave Dunmore an excuse to proclaim the Virginia Colony at war and impose martial law., Dunmore's troops at Kempes Landing included his Ethiopian Regiment made up of formerly enslaved Virginians. His proclamation offered freedom to slaves who would join British forces. All area residents were ordered to take an oath of loyalty to the Crown. Many did so. In 1781, the traitor Benedict Arnold assembled local citizens at Kempes Landing to again encourage them to take the oath of loyalty to King George III. Despite. these efforts, Patriot support remained strong throughout the Revolutionary War., In 1778, as the War was being waged, the General Assembly approved a petition from Princess Anne County residents to relocate the county seat from Newtown to Kempes Landing. At war's end in 1783, the village became the town of Kempsville, and existing property holders retained ownership of their irregular tracts, eliminating a more formal layout conducive to traditional commercial growth. A new courthouse was completed by 1787 and a brick jail was constructed nearby in 1788, both located behind Pleasant Hall. As the county seat, the town was Princess Anne's only voting site and first post office location. Even though the port activity declined, Kempsville remained a primary crossroads leading to Norfolk, maintaining its place as the county's commercial center., The Reverend Anthony Walke III of Kempsville's Fairfield Plantation was a county delegate to the 1788 Richmond convention at which Virginia ratified the United States Constitution. The following January he was one of the state's 12 electors, voting for George Washington as the nation's first President., (captions) , Map of the Country Contiguous to Norfolk ca. 1812 Eastern Branch Elizabeth River showing Kempsville to the right. Courtesy of National Archives, Washington, D.C. (https://catalog.archives.gov/id/17370586), Conjectural illustration of the wharf and port at Kempes Landing by Emily Whaley (coloration added). Courtesy of Virginia Wesleyan University Archives