First Landing State Park at Cape Henry in Virginia Beach stands near the traditional site where Christopher Newport and the Virginia Company colonists first came ashore before founding Jamestown. Virginia’s first planned state park, it was developed beginning in 1933 on donated land and opened in 1936 through Civilian Conservation Corps labor, much of it performed by Black American men. Later expanded and long known as Seashore State Park, it preserves historic New Deal-era design and unusual coastal habitats within the Seashore Natural Area. Its history also reflects Virginia’s segregation era, including closure in 1955 rather than integration, before reopening as an integrated park in 1965.

Virginia Beach, Virginia · USA