Olde Towne in Portsmouth, Virginia — The American South (Mid-Atlantic)
Lincolnsville
Photographed by James Thomson, October 12, 2010
1. Lincolnsville Marker
Inscription.
Lincolnsville. . The four houses directly across the street are the last remaining original houses of Lincolnsville, Portsmouth's first middle-class African American community, established in 1890. It was an area of about 34 acres and operated as a city within a city with schools, churches, and lodges. In the late 1950s, after an economic decline in the region, Portsmouth's City Council designated Lincolnsville as its first urban renewal project. The red brick house, built in 1926, is the boyhood home of Dr. James W. Holley, III, the first black mayor of Portsmouth.
The four houses directly across the street are the last remaining original houses of Lincolnsville, Portsmouth's first middle-class African American community, established in 1890. It was an area of about 34 acres and operated as a city within a city with schools, churches, and lodges. In the late 1950s, after an economic decline in the region, Portsmouth's City Council designated Lincolnsville as its first urban renewal project. The red brick house, built in 1926, is the boyhood home of Dr. James W. Holley, III, the first black mayor of Portsmouth.
Location. 36° 50.294′ N, 76° 18.283′ W. Marker is in Portsmouth, Virginia. It is in Olde Towne. It is on North Street, on the right when traveling east. Near Emanuel AME Church. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 637 North Street, Portsmouth VA 23704, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this
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marker is in Virginia’s Hampton Roads, specifically in Coastal Virginia, and in the Hampton Roads Metropolitan Area. It is also in the American South, specifically in the Upper South, in the Tidewater, and on the Eastern Seaboard. Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region, North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture, one of the original Thirteen Colonies, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
Credits. This page was last revised on February 11, 2026. It was originally submitted on October 13, 2010, by James Thomson of Chesapeake, United States. This page has been viewed 1,876 times since then and 153 times this year. Photos:1. submitted on October 13, 2010, by James Thomson of Chesapeake, United States. 2. submitted on January 31, 2021, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia. 3. submitted on October 13, 2010, by James Thomson of Chesapeake, United States. • Bill Pfingsten was the editor who published this page.
