Historical Reminiscing with Robert B. Hitchings
Old Pleasant Hall, Virginia Beach, Virginia
There is an old house on Singleton Way in Virginia Beach, Virginia, that no one seems to know the history of. It’s at a busy intersection with cars and trucks going by daily. The road bears the name Singleton, for that family was the former owner of this large old brick home.
Like all old historical homes this house can tell of the past occupants and historical events it has witnessed throughout the years. It’s these stories that connect the past and the present. This is the story of Pleasant Hall.
As a teenager, I can remember when this old house sat back from Princess Anne Road. The road was muddy and had a different appearance in those days, a country style landscape with shade trees, bushes and corn growing in nearby farms. It was a tranquil place, not a lot of traffic. They were all well-kept farms in this very rural settling. One of the former owners of this old house was a Dr. Robert Edward Whitehead (1873-1945), an obstetrician and his family, who had his office in a separate building on the left side of the house. It’s here in this small country style office, Doctor Whitehead looked after the community.
Much has been written over the years concerning Virginia’s rich history. However, it’s only a few places in tne state of Virginia that have richer history than old Princess Anne County. However, little has been written about some of the unusual inhabitants of this area. This is a brief sketch of one of the former owners who lived here in this house called Pleasant Hall. Believe me, Mr. Peter Singleton II (1804-1837) was a colorful character.
This two-storied Flemish bond brick house with its two large chimneys at the end of the house dates back to 1769 and is one of the oldest houses in Virginia Beach. On the grounds, just a few yards away, in November 1775 a small skirmish occurred in what was called Kemps Landing. Here the British defeated the patriots of Princess Anne County. A young minuteman by the name John Arkiss was killed here. The last royal Governor, Lord Dunmore, had his headquarters here too. It is here on the bare floors that Lord and Lady Dunmore danced the Minute at one of the many balls that were given in their honor in this grand old house called Pleasant Hall.
Like many old houses this old house has a few secrets that no one knows. As I like to say, "If only the walls could talk, what they could tell us about its former inhabitants!"
Peter Singleton I, (17?? - 1790 ) alas CZAR bought this fine old Georgian brick house from John Logan in the town of Kempsville. There is a brick with a date April 19, 1769. Peter Singleton willed the house to his son Isaac Singleton (17?? -1808) in 1790. Isaac Singleton married Elizabeth Land of Princess Anne County, Virginia, January 10, 1799. She died in 1803.
Isaac Singleton was married a second time to Susanna Wainhouse Thorowgood on January 20, 1804. She was the daughter of James and Rebecca Ellegood Thorowgood of Princess Anne County. Michael Thorowgood, her brother was the security.
It was here in this house that young Peter Singleton II (1804-1837) was born and raised.
Isaac Singleton died around 1808, and Susanna W. Singleton remarried in July 27, 1809, to a man named Robert Smith of Princess Anne County. And the trail ends here, for their name seems to have disappeared from old documents.
Susanna's son, young Pete Singleton, inherited much wealth from his ancestor Adam Thorowgood who was called the "Grand Parent". Young Peter Singleton II, with his inherited wealth, was quite sophisticated and a stylish young man. His extravagance in dress was especially noticed by his neighbors, with velvet hand-made clothes, gold buttons and fine lace at his neck and sleeves. In his day, he had an aura in his appearance and everyone noticed this young man everywhere. Young Peter Singleton, a gentleman, would later build a fine old house in 1828 called, Bayville. Bayville would be destroyed by lighting in 2005.
In the early 18th century there were no social clubs in Princess Anne County like we have today. But gambling was prevalent and men of wealth played for high stakes in horse racing, card games, anything in the games of chance. Card games went on for days and weeks with the wealthy.
During a visit to Princess Anne County, while working on his book "Old Churches and Families of Virginia", Bishop William Mead (1782-1863) said, "The social class, the rich feast, the card-table, the dance, and the horse-race, were all freely indulged in through the county. And what has been the result?"
In a paper a local historian Cornelia Hodgenana Ferstrom (1872-1934) writes, "In the early days in Princess Anne County, Virginia, these gentlemen living on their vast estates were fond of any games of chance. It was under the great elms of Pleasant Hall that a Thorowgood and his kinsman Peter Singleton from Bayville, played for hours and days. When the money was exhausted, personal processions were placed on the table." In his card playing days, young Peter Singleton put up the deed of his new home called Bayville. He took a chance and he lost everything.
On December 18, 1837, the Norfolk & Portsmouth Herald reported on the death of young Peter Singleton II. His obituary tells it all. He was only 33 years old and had died in the Alms House for the poor in Cedar Grove cemetery, Norfolk, Virginia. The Presbyterian Church of Norfolk buried young Peter in a pauper’s grave.
DEATH
Died, on Saturday night last, Mr. PETER SINGLETON, aged 33 years.
The years of this unfortunate young man, though few, are full of admonition to the unguided and undisciplined youth, whose mind has little to reflect upon beyond the pleasures of the moment but the vast possessions which he is to be endowed with on attaining the period of legal manhood. Descended from one of the oldest, wealthiest, and most respectable families in our neighborhood, and left almost sole possessor of the vast estate, the subject of this notice found himself, on the day when the law allowed him to enter upon it, in possession of a property which could not be estimated far short of 8,700,000. - Unfortunately, though no common pains had been bestowed on his education, and he had manifested no deficiency of mind or dereliction of principle, he was left to his own inclinations and dangerous courses and associations which laid the foundation of his ruin. -He was courted, flattered and caressed by the artful and designing who knew his weaknesses and sought to take advantage of it . . . It is needless to enter into particulars -- In two or three years the race course and the gambling table swept his large estate, and left him a helpless dependent on a few friends; but habits of intemperance which he had acquired by his associations at the gaming table, and in which he now indulged to a greater excess than ever, to drown the recollections of the effects of his folly, soon unfitted him for any other society than that which is found in the lowest resorts of drunkness --we would not unnecessarily wound any feeling of affinity -- but the lesson he has left to the rising generation, to warn them against the snares and pitfalls which beset their paths in the pursuit of vicious pleasures-- is too useful to be thrown away. On Saturday he was conveyed, by private charity, in a state of insensibility, to the Alms House, and the same night his wretched existence was terminated.
His funeral will take place this afternoon at 3 o'clock, in the Presbyterian Church. Norfolk & Portsmouth Herald, Dec 18,1837Pleasant Hall still stands majestic as in the 1770s. Like so many old homes it is shrouded in mystery and intrigue. Its history is whispering throughout the rooms. The aging architecture, hidden nooks and the countless lives that have passed through its doors creates an atmosphere of fascination and a desire to uncover its secrets.
During the 1950’s old folks in the area would say, "Under the old trees at Kempville's Pleasant Hall the ghost of Peter Singleton II sometimes appears walking around, bitter, disillusioned, on the grounds of his boyhood home where he lost everything."
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Robert B. Hitchings is a seventh generation Norfolk resident, graduating with an Associate's Degree in Biology from Old Dominion University and BA in history from Virginia Wesleyan University. During his studies he was awarded a scholarship at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, England, and he was an exchange student at Brooks-Westminster College, Oxford, England. From 1999-2014 he worked as head of the Sargeant Memorial History Room at Norfolk Public Library, and since then has headed the Wallace History Room at Chesapeake Public Library. He is also the President of the Norfolk County Historical Society, and for six years was a columnist for The Virginian-Pilot. Robert may be reached at nchs.wallaceroom@gmail.com
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