Kempsville | |
---|---|
Unincorporated community | |
Location within the Commonwealth of Virginia | |
Coordinates: 36°49′37″N 76°09′37″W / 36.82694°N 76.16028°WCoordinates: 36°49′37″N 76°09′37″W / 36.82694°N 76.16028°W | |
Country | United States |
State | Virginia |
Independent city | Virginia Beach |
Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) |
• Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
ZIP codes | 23464, 23462 |
Kempsville was formerly an unincorporated community which was located in Princess Anne County, Virginia. In modern times, it is a community within the urbanized portion the independent city of Virginia Beach, the largest city in Virginia.
The town was originally named Kemp's Landing and was a colonial port at the head of the Eastern Branch Elizabeth River. Under the Tobacco Inspection Act of 1730, one of the 40 tobacco inspection warehouses was chartered : " At Norfolk Town, upon the fort land, in the County of Norfolk; and Kemp's Landing, in Princess Anne, under one inspection. "
On November 14, 15, or 16th, 1775, it was the location where John Ackiss was killed by Royal Governor Lord Dunmore's militia during an incident later called the "Skirmish of Kempsville". Ackiss became the first Virginian casualty of the American Revolutionary War. The Daughters of the American Revolution later erected a plaque near the site.
The town of Kempsville, established in 1781, was the location of the county seat of Princess Anne County from 1778-1823. After that date, it was moved to the current location at Princess Anne, Virginia.
Emmanuel Episcopal Church, was founded in 1843 to serve families living in Kempsville (then known as Kemp's Landing). In time, the town lost its economic importance and Emmanuel became a rural parish until 1963, when it grew along with the community as a part of the "new" city of Virginia Beach (when Virginia Beach and Princess Anne County merged).
Portions of the church's outer walls are original. The cemetery behind the church contains the graves of four veterans of the Confederate States' Army during the American Civil War in the early 1860s, as well as the more recent grave of Allen Jones "Al" "Two Gun" Gettel, a local boy who grew up to be a major league pitcher for the New York Yankees, the Cleveland Indians, and the Chicago White Sox over a 10-year career (1945–55). [1]