Can you meet me at Log Cabin Beach?
Resilience in Grove Community, Williamsburg, VA, and the erasing of black history
Community for Grove runs deep: from displacement to legacy
By Robin Jester Wootton
W&M Lemon Project Symposium March 21, 2025
KEY WORDS: Grove, Grove Connections, James City County, Log Cabin Beach, Carter Plantation, Colonial Williamsburg,
Thank you to W &M Lemon Project for the honor of sharing today.
Marianne Martin, Librarian Visual Resources, Rockefeller Library
Hope Wynne Carter, descendant, daughter of Grove
James City County Historical Association and Colonial Williamsburg Foundation research on Log Cabin Beach and Carter’s Grove
Sheree Beauford, local resident, Grove Connections Board of Directors, Community Queen!
Introduction
It is sobering to think of the stories lost because no one cared to tell them any more… or no one was left who knew them.
I don’t think I need to tell anyone in this room that history gets rewritten, that narratives can change and shift into something unrecognizable so very easily.
Community for Grove means telling their Stories right.
Grove families have long deep roots, entwined with a rich Black heritage within a Southern landscape marked profoundly by racial hostilities, discrimination, and intimidation, but also hope and possibilities and belonging. While the Greater Williamsburg area has been known to many as a place of celebration - as the birthplace of America with its ideals and values for all human life - underneath the surface lies a complex web of stories over the years of just how difficult it has been for many people living here, and how much they have had to rise above to build for themselves in order to prosper and not just survive, but thrive. In this increasingly difficult times we are now in, with regard to the public perception of truth and history and fact checking, communities like Grove again find themselves on the fringe of history, having to fight even harder than before for significance, for a sense of value and worth, and for the resources to tell their story with integrity and honor.
A new Connection
The ongoing struggles for representation brought together a group of residents of Grove to communicate and connect with each other. Local residents, Sheree Beauford and Ryan Bonney have a strong desire to unite people who call Grove home and to help everyone get more involved in rebuilding Community, especially when it has faced setbacks and conflicts within the past few years.
Grove Connections is a newly formed community group currently applying for a 501c3, and seeks to “Empower Change: Our Commitment to Transforming and Elevating the Grove Community” by offering a place for residents to find out more about what’s happening in their neighborhood and to help build change from a grassroots movement, offering opportunities to be part of the solutions.This community organization endeavors to provide these resources with more earnest than ever, as federal, state, county, and local resources are threatened and initiatives such as researching and highlighting marginalized communities may begin to dry up and/or become increasingly hyper-competitive. Events like Grove Celebration Day, football camps, a business association just for Grove residents, and much more are in the works as the new organization grows and finds like-minded neighbors to take back the reins of the community and elevate itself into the future.
“At times, it feels as though our community is isolated and overlooked by many residents of Williamsburg and the James City County area, who often confuse us with Newport News or York County,” says the About Us section of GroveConnections.com. “It feels like the area is its own Island.”
In fact, Grove Island is the theme of the t-shirt design to celebrate the uniqueness of Grove and pay tribute to his historical significance in the County. Shirts are available for purchase on the website as a way to spread awareness of the new organization and help to raise needed funding for community projects.
This island feeling is from being locked in from the north on the Busch Gardens bypass, the Naval base, the train tracks, the industrial complex to the south, and of course the James River. Grove could not really grow much if it wanted to as it currently stands, with land use being earmarked as it is and the geographical constraints.
Humble beginnings
Grove itself has had a storied history of people coming together to build what is not there. As an area designated for “black people” in the not-distant-enough past, Grove has had a long struggle to be well represented and developed into a vibrant thriving community in Williamsburg.
One of the notable stories of the Grove area is the venue known as Log Cabin Beach.
Some Williamsburg residents and historians of the Chitlin Circuit remember this location in the 1950s during segregation. A log cabin structure served as a restaurant and dance hall for African Americans, advertised for musical talents up and down the east coast, attracting big names from the music industry at the time possibly including Tina Turner, Ella Fitzgerald and more.
Some current Grove and Williamsburg residents today may not even know about Log Cabin Beach or its significance for the area and the black artist community, but renewed interest in its history was inspired by the Rockefeller Library Archives project which seeks to identify people in photos from the collection by local photographer, government official, and community advocate Albert Durant.
Also, a historical marker for Log Cabin Beach is under review for future placement spearheaded by local resident Hope Wynne Carter, a descendant of the area who still remembers the beach from her childhood. The marker could serve as a reminder of the storied history of the area and its importance to how the Grove community has thrived for decades, but has had to fight for every step of the way. As of this writing, the marker has still not been approved due to needing more research and finding the “paper trail.” Paper trails often being elusive, as we all know.
While most of the day to day activity at Log Cabin Beach has been lost with time, the work of then local community leader Durant captured some of the vibrant vacation spot along the James River. What is now known as Ron Springs Road was also the location of Log Cabin Beach Road, parallel to what is the Carters Grove Country Road, heading from the Grove area up through Kingsmill all the way to Colonial Williamsburg at the Williamsburg Lodge. This connector road continues to serve as a reminder of the need for the Grove area to be adequately linked to the downtown area and the rest of Williamsburg.
Many MANY more photos are available for viewing at the Rockefeller Library here in CW by appointment and the public is invited to help identify anyone in the photos if able. Please be sure to let long-time area residents know of this opportunity to preserve local history!
Meanwhile, Grove community continues to stretch and grow.
Growing Pains for Grove
As the area of Grove has been eyed by developers and businesses for years, being one of the least costly and most underdeveloped in the area, it also faces the increased pressures of expansion and what some may consider “gentrification” or, alternatively, over industrialization, removing wooded areas or continuing to block public access along the James. There are currently no publicly accessible locations to view the river.
But it’s not just the businesses and landlords, but it can be within the community too. Community members have different ideals and visions for what Grove is and how to build a brighter future for everyone. Church groups within the area can also find difficulty in supporting each other in a relatively smaller neighborhood and the search for a collective identity for Grove can be challenging.
“So many see Grove as the poor neighborhood or the wrong end of the tracks,” says one resident who wished to remain anonymous. “We have a lot of people in Williamsburg talking about Grove like it’s a bad thing or something to be ashamed of and our kids feel bad about being from here. It’s really sad. We have a beautiful community here and we are worthy of love.”
What rises from the ashes grows a Grove
It could also be said that it was a devastating shock when the Carter Plantation, formerly open to the public as a living museum operated by Colonial Williamsburg, was bought out by a private owner and closed to the Grove community.
Several residents of the community who live there also worked at Carters Grove for many years at the grounds and outbuildings, especially those that once represented the slave quarters and other representations of slave life. It is common to hear stories from the neighbors about the many good years where they felt the stories of their people were being told and appropriately shared for the tourists and residents alike.
And in similar ways, Log Cabin Beach is like a lightning rod for the Grove community, serving as a reminder for the vibrance and creativity of the area and the contributions of the black community in Williamsburg. While the history and status of a marker is subject to the local authorities and is being undertaken by groups like the James City County Historical Association and the noble efforts of people like Hope Wynne Carter, a daughter of Grove, it seems fitting, then, to see how Grove on the whole is no stranger to adversity and setbacks. Grove continues to fight for representation and the right to be not just a part of their own future but the main driver. Communities that are overrun by outside agendas and power often find themselves having to go to meetings and finding representation, navigating the confusing and time consuming web of process and legal actions in order to keep what is theirs, what they have built, and what they deserve to own. Grove residents find difficulties enlisting help even from those organizations that claim to represent or serve Grove but continue to portray the area as the “poor part of town” and utilize the stereotype to bring negative attention instead of celebrating and empowering the community at its best.
Grove Connections will continue to advocate for the creation of the Grove Community Park, which James City County has in the works, being sure that the Grove neighbors themselves have a direct input to the park amenities and representing the history and beauty of this area well.
And as for River Access???
Well.. that’s a longer story. Grove Connections will continue to work toward public access to the James River and revitalizing the area that large industrial corporations have left behind. Between the current Hampton Roads Sanitation Department and the former BASF property, the river in Grove has been a source of public tension and frustration for many years. Contaminants in the river and public safety concerns being complex and quite costly, this may be an uphill battle for some time still.
But the Grove community has hope for the future, and it works for change now. James City County representatives have renewed commitments to better representing marginalized groups and creating opportunities for more community involvement and feedback at every stage of development and decision making. Grove Connections will continue to advocate for their community to have a say in the areas they call home. With more engagement with both County officials, schools, and other local groups, Grove Connections has made in-roads to fairly representing the community’s needs for improved services, neighborhood infrastructure, and more over the past year with much more to come.
Grove Connections hopes to revitalize the area through ongoing Grove CELEBRATIONS, plans for a Grove History Museum and Local Art Gallery, with more Special Events. And as the entire Greater Williamsburg area gets ready for the 250th Celebrations in 2026, Grove Connections also has its sights set on celebrating its origins too. Grove Connections continues to push and see change for the better.
The Connections group is working toward building awareness and planning more ways to elevate Grove, transforming to an even stronger and more beautiful area than anyone dared to dream before. A stronger Grove seems to be inevitable because it just keeps growing back. So… Keep your eyes on Grove!
Sources:
https://tdclassicist.blogspot.com/2012/06/carters-grove.html
On the BASF plant currently closed, report of hazardous waste cleanup as of 2017 https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/hwcorrectiveaction/hazardous-waste-cleanup-basf-corporation-williamsburg-va_.html
Photos by Albert Durant used with permission from The Rockefeller Library.
Is this from a presentation you gave?