Historical Reminiscing with Robert B. Hitchings
Ghent Stories, Childhood Friendships and Memories
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My father, Louis Burgess Hitchings (1909-2005) and his sister, Elvie Virginia Hitchings Butt Sutherland (1906-1999) grew up in West Ghent. My grandparents Mr. & Mrs. Louis Eugene Hitchings, moved into their new house they built at 828 Yeardley Avenue, but later the city changed the street name to Spotswood in 1916.
Growing up in my household our family had stories to tell. From my Dad, I heard all about West Ghent, when Spotswood Avenue was farmland. The Backus family had a large farm on Myers Avenue, now Hampton Blvd. Many times my Dad would have to roundup some horses for Mr. Backus that escaped from their coral. According to my Dad, he was able to catch up with these horses once on Myers Avenue. Lucky, not many people had automobiles in those days. Myers Avenue (Hampton Blvd.) was not as busy as it is today. Everything was very close by in distance, like Adams grocery store on the corner of Colley and Spotswood. The two churches were very near, Central Baptist and Christ Church on Olney Road. And the bakery shop where all Ghent folks would shop was near Princess Anne Road. Schools were nearby, like old Robert E. Lee School and Walter Herron Taylor School, not to mention Maury High School in East Ghent. I heard all about the strawberry fields around the area and Grandma raising her chickens.
When Mr. John Core passed away, all his property in West Ghent was put up for sale. The big question was what name would be selected. Some folks wanted the section named after a flower. The real estate firm of West Ghent had a contest in naming this section. My grandfather’s first cousin, Vernon Hitchings who was living with the family entered the contest. He entered the name West Ghent and won $125.00 in gold coins. The name has remained the same all these years, West Ghent.
The oldest tree (Sweet Gum) in Ghent was on the Hitchings lot, Spotswood Avenue, and my Dad had a tree house there. In my young days I would dig under the tree in search of an old money can that an old African American had during the Civil War. I never found it. I only found deep, hard roots.
On the corner of Shirley and Core Avenue (834 Shirley Ave.) lived the Billups family. Mr. John C. Billups (1867-1944) was a Marine Engineer. They had the first automobile in this section of West Ghent. Dad and the family loved taking Sunday drives with the Billups in their new automobile touring car. They also were some sort of relation to my grandmother’s family, all were from Matthews Co. Virginia. His mother, Mrs. Billups, had a nice cart with a Shetland pony for her to ride around Ghent to do her shopping. Many times she would take my Dad shopping and Dad would drive the cart. As Dad would say in later life, "they were just wonderful people."
In those days in Ghent, everyone knew each other, stores and churches were within walking distance. I remember one Sunday afternoon, as a teenager, my mother telling my Dad, "Margaret Sullavan (1) is in town." Margaret Sullavan (1909-1960), the movie actress was a native of Norfolk and grew up in Ghent. She was the movie star in the 1930s and 1940s. I really liked two of her movies, "Shop Around the Corner" and "The Mortal Storm", both with actor Jimmy Stewart. They were great movies. Being from Virginia, she even tried out for the part in David O. Selznick (1902-1965) 1939 movie "Gone with the Wind", as Scarlet O’Hara. Her fans were thrilled when she made front page of the LIFE Magazine on January 24, 1944.
Everyone loved Margaret because she was from Norfolk, especially the Ghent area. I understand when she was back in Norfolk, she never talked about the movie industry. She wanted to "catch up" with the local news of her friends and the locals. My Dad spoke up and said to my mother, "Yes, she was always getting us in trouble with her plays. A curious look came over Mom’s face. Dad said, "Every time his sister would go up the street for bread or rolls, especially Hot Cross Buns, she had to stop over to see her friend Margaret Sullavan.
The Sullavan’s home (2) during the 1920s was located at 724 Graydon Avenue and during the summertime the front porch was covered with white sheets. Margaret was producing her plays.
One evening my Aunt Elvie was sent to the bakery to pick up some rolls for dinner. Instead of stopping at the store first, she had to stop by Margaret’s home. An hour went by and no Elvie. Grandma tells my Dad, "Go see where your sister is. She should have been home by now." Dad said, "I knew where she was, at Margaret Sullavan’s house doing some crazy play." My father went down to Margaret’s house, and, sure enough, there is his sister and a few other neighbor kids in a play on the front porch. Before Dad could get his sister to come home, he ended up being an extra in the play. If memory serves me correctly, his roll was playing Rin Tin Tin, movie star dog of WWI. Dad must have had a loud bark!
When darkness was approaching they both got home rather late, the rolls were cold and grandma was mad. "Your father came home early and is hungry. You two knew we were having supper at 6 PM. Dad said, "We had no dinner that night." This was his story of getting into trouble with Margaret Sullavan and her childhood plays. Margaret Sullavan would go on to becoming a most beloved movie star of Hollywood.
As a kid in the 1960s, I remember one night driving on Hampton Blvd. by an old abandoned house (3) with large pocket doors covering the front door entrance. The house was beautiful. It still had its elegance but terribly run down with broken windows (4). I asked my Dad, "Did you know folks in that old abandoned house? He replied, "Yes, it was once the beautiful old home of the Serpell family. It was a showcase in its day in Ghent." Old Goldsborough Serpell (1875-1946), a wealthy banker lived there. The house was located at the corner of Westover and Hampton Blvd., at 902 Westover Avenue and had 40 rooms.
The huge home was built in 1907 and was the first house in Ghent to have a private elevator. Dad said, "The Butler would let them ride the elevator up and down from the basement to the attic, 4 floors in all." This was a thrill for all the kids in the neighborhood, for no one had ever seen an elevator in a home before.
It’s interesting what a child remembers. Yes, I remembered the stories from my Dad and they are priceless. These stories strengthen family bonds, especially to a section of town where one grows up. During the early 1900s, Ghent was new, fashionable, an up-scale section of Norfolk. And today, it’s still a fashionable place to live. Ghent is alive and holds onto its rich history of the past as she grows into the 21st century.
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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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