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Weekends at Virginia Beach, circa 1974

As told by Heather Shelton
Virginia Beach, Virginia

Story Narrative:

"This video was taken in Virginia Beach, sometime around 1974. And, at that time, there wasn't really anything to do in Virginia Beach--although it's a very large city now. The only thing there was to do was go to the beach! There was a particular beach that we used to go to off of Shore Drive, in the city. It was a beach that bordered the Chesapeake Bay, not the ocean front, so the waves were small, and you could walk really far out in the water before getting deep, which was great for kids. We spent every weekend there from the time I was a baby to the time I was eighteen years old. Recently we discovered this 8mm film in one of my parent's closets and we'd never seen this before. So, the kids that were on these reels had never seen this footage of them playing in the water on Shore Drive, on the Chesapeake. And, the people in this video are still people that my family keeps in touch with. My hunch is that experiences like this created lifelong bonds for the people who were in these videos--best friends, sisters, brothers, and people who you spend a lifetime with. I can recall from the time of infancy, being in a playpen, which I am in this video, and soaking up the sun, and hearing the waves, and the screams of the little kids that are jumping up and down in the water."


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