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History of Onancock, Virginia

Town of Onancock
on Virginia's beautiful Eastern Shore
of the Chesapeake Bay

From the Beginning
by Anne Nock

1680 - Town of Onancock established
Only a handful of towns and cities exist today in Virginia that were founded in 1680, the year of the Virginia Assembly’s Act of Cohabitation that encouraged the development of a few key, port-of-entry towns throughout the colony. The winding deep-water creek linking the high-banked land to the Great Chesapeake Bay was the main reason for the selection of the port that was to serve the Eastern Shore. By the 1680 act, Onancock, first called Port Scarborough, had its organized beginnings at the headwaters of Onancock Creek though English settlers and Indians had peopled its shores long before 1680.

In 1681, surveyor Daniel Jenifer, prepared a grid plan for the land at the head of the creek that was to be the Eastern Shore’s official port-of-entry town. In yesteryears, Onancock Creek was the town’s lifeline--a valuable link to transportation, trade and communication. Still, today, Onancock Creek links the little town with the world.

 The Wharf
In spring, summer and fall, boaters traveling the Chesapeake Bay tie up in Onancock’s sheltered harbor by the night and by the week. On any day, ocean-going sailboats dock alongside trim yachts at the town wharf or anchor out in the creek. Commercial fishing vessels, too, use the wharf, and working tugs maneuver barges loaded with oil as well as sand, stone and gravel used in the manufacture of concrete blocks. The wharf is much more than a glossy picture in a leisure boating magazine – it is a working wharf as well as a pleasure wharf.

Residents of the town enjoy the wharf area perhaps more than do boaters. Whether citizens are walking, jogging, cycling, skate-boarding, or riding in a car, van or pickup, all seem to go out of their way to make a swing along the wharf – just to see what boats have come in and to enjoy the view. It has been said that there is always someone at the dock to greet a boat upon its arrival and always at least one person to wave goodbye when a boat departs.

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Town Square Tells History
The life-story of the town of Onancock is rich in history. The town square was in the mainstream of life for more than two centuries when waterways served as America’s roads. A reminder of Daniel Jenifer’s survey is the one-block-size town square in the heart of the oldest part of town that has remained public property since it was laid out in 1681. Viewing the monuments on the little square enables today’s onlooker to catch a feel of the unfolding pages of history.

Monuments to a Civil War hero, to Onancock area residents who gave their lives in World Wars I and II, and to a recent mayor help today’s visitors put dates to historic events. First a marketplace and community gathering ground, the town square has been the site of political gatherings, militia drills and encampments, musical performances, town meetings, traveling shows, church revivals, carnivals, family picnics, weddings and Christmas Carol sings.

 Architectural Heritage - houses and churches
Though there is but one known 18th century building, Scott Hall, the town claims a surprising variety of architectural styles. The simplicity of Scott Hall’s well-proportioned 1770's dormered windows set in gambrel roof — Kerr Place, the Eastern Shore of Virginia’s finest example of Federal Architecture — Classical Revival residences of the 1830's and 1840's — Victorian gems built in Onancock’s heyday of steamboat travel; these and more are examples of American architecture to suit any visitor’s interests. Because the town is relatively small with a population of fewer than 2000, the visitor can walk, bike or ride in a car for only a few blocks to see an interesting array of residences, close to businesses, all hovering near several branches of Onancock Creek.

Historic churches, four with steeples or towers, speak of a religious heritage that is strong today as in yesteryears. And long before the earliest (still standing) church, Cokesbury, was built, the most famous person ever to have walked Onancock’s paths resided here. Francis Makemie, father of American Presbyterianism, helped establish religious freedom in America when he gained permission to hold religious services in his Onancock home in 1699. A granite marker on Market St. alerts the visitor to his place in history.

Several in-town cemeteries harken to olden times. The Scott Hall graveyard contains a marker for Commodore Z. Whaley who died in the Battle of the Barges, a battle fought in the Bay north of Onancock Creek at the conclusion of the Revolutionary War. Reading the epitaphs on mid-1800s tablestones and tombstones in Cokesbury Church’s graveyard recalls early ministers and members of the Methodist Society who first organized in 1788. Still another private cemetery lies beside the creekside Harmon house overlooking the Central Branch of Onancock Creek.

 Goods and services, museums, attractions
Not all history, the town of Onancock looks to the future, too, in many ways. Three attractive bed-and-breakfast inns offer comfortable accommodations to visitors, and the town’s small business district takes pleasure in offering goods and services to the most discriminating buyer. Several of the Shore’s well-known artists and artisans are found in Onancock.

A resident drama group, The North St. Playhouse, schedules performances throughout the year in its theater complex, and the Eastern Shore of Virginia Historical Society maintains headquarters at Kerr Place, a brick mansion built 1799 - 1802. In addition to being a building of unusual interest architecturally, the Historical Society mounts changing exhibits appropriate to the area to augment its own displays and is open to the public March through December, Tuesday through Saturday. Another "museum-in-the-making" honors the life and work of Blacksmith Sam Outlaw. Located in Mr. Outlaw’s restored blacksmith shop on Boundary Avenue, the Sam Outlaw Museum is open specified times during the year.

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Onancock, Virginia 23417
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© Mary Ann Connelly, 2008
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