Kempsville, Virginia

Kempsville was formerly an unincorporated town which was located in Princess Anne County, Virginia. In modern times, it is a community within the urbanized portion the independent city of Virginia Beach, the largest city in Virginia.

History

The town was originally named Kemp's Landing and was a colonial port at the head of the eastern branch of the Elizabeth River. On November 14th, 15th, or 16th, 1775, it was the location where John Ackiss was killed by Royal Governor Lord Dunmore's militia during an incident later called the "Skirmish of Kempsville". Ackiss became the first Virginian casualty of the American Revolutionary War. The Daughters of the American Revolution later erected a plaque near the site.

The town of Kempsville, established in 1781, was the location of the county seat of Princess Anne County from 1778-1823. After that date, it was moved to the current location at Princess Anne, Virginia.

Emmanuel Episcopal Church, was founded in 1843 to serve families living in Kempsville (then known as Kemp's Landing). In time, the town lost its economic importance and Emmanuel became a rural parish until 1963, when it grew along with the community as a part of the "new" city of Virginia Beach (when Virginia Beach and Princess Anne County merged).

Portions of the church's outer walls are original. The cemetery behind the church contains the graves of four veterans of the Confederate States' Army during the American Civil War in the early 1860's, as well as the more recent grave of Allen Gettel, a local boy who grew up to be a major league pitcher for the New York Yankees, the Cleveland Indians, and the Chicago White Sox over a 10 year career (1945-55). [http://www.navicache.com/cgi-bin/db/displaycache2.pl?CacheID=7660]

After the county consolidated by mutual agreement with the small resort city of Virginia Beach in 1963, and assumed the latter's name, explosive growth during the 1960s and 1970s transformed Kempsville into a sprawling suburban community of the largest independent city in Virginia.