News Flash

Time to hit the beach! Join long-time Buckroe Beach resident Martha F. Morris for a virtual stroll down memory lane—or boardwalk in this case, to hear stories of one of the city’s most precious gems in “Bygone Summers at Buckroe” as the season closer of the Hampton History Museum’s “Lunch in Time” series on Wednesday, May 15, 12:00-1:00 p.m.

Travel back in time to this historic vacation destination where generations of Hamptonians have lived, worked and played. Morris will share highlights from her treasure trove of historic images and memorabilia to get attendees in a nostalgic summertime frame of mind.

Martha will dive deep into Buckroe’s past back to 1607, as well as the Civil War and Buckroe Plantation. She’ll cover the first Buckroe Hotel and bathhouse that opened 1897, a time when men and women had to bathe separately in roped off areas, and the opening of the beloved Buckroe Beach Amusement Park. Also to be covered are bustling early 1900s that brought with it many new hotels and attractions made accessible with streetcars and rail service. She’ll talk about the devastating impact of the Great Hurricane of 1933 on the seaside community. A new era came when Peter Stieffen and family purchased the amusement park in the 1940s, and Martha will discuss the changes that took place in the post WWII era and 1950s up through the late 1970s.

Martha's’ family moved from Lynchburg, VA to Buckroe when she was a year old. Her father had spent summers in Buckroe growing up, and it was always his desire to one day return and live there. At age 15, her first job was during the summer of 1974 between 9^th and 10^th grade at one of the beach’s float “houses” renting out umbrellas and floats to beachgoers. This is when she began collecting keepsakes that she made at the Penny Arcade, along with Buckroe postcards, photographs, matchbook covers, advertising and other mementoes, including printing plates, glassware, restaurant menus, correspondences, home movies and historical memorabilia from the Shelton Home, Buckore Beach Fire Department, some of which she will bring to the museum for her talk.

Lunch in Time

Admission is free and open to the public. Attendees are encouraged to bring a bag lunch. The museum will provide free dessert.

Our lunchtime series will go on hiatus for the summer to return refreshed in September.