Nomination Form
The Cornland School in the City of Chesapeake is a one-room schoolhouse built in 1903 that served African American students in the Pleasant Grove School District in the former Norfolk County (now part of the City of Chesapeake) during the era of segregation. Cornland replaced a ca. 1868 school that stood on the same site. In 1952 the school closed and its students were transferred to a newly constructed but racially segregated elementary school. The Cornland school building today is one of the oldest one-room schools still standing in Chesapeake and one of the last remaining African American elementary schools from the days of segregation.
An updated nomination was approved by the National Register of Historic Places in 2023 to document the current location and condition of the building. The Cornland School was moved three miles from its original location to an undeveloped parcel near Wallaceton. The rehabilitated building is planned to be interpreted to the public as a museum that focuses on historic Norfolk County’s Black communities and education in the first half of the 20th century.
[NRHP Approved: 5/12/2023]
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Nomination Form
Programs
DHR has secured permanent legal protection for over 700 historic places - including 15,000 acres of battlefield lands
DHR has erected 2,532 highway markers in every county and city across Virginia
DHR has registered more than 3,317 individual resources and 613 historic districts
DHR has engaged over 450 students in 3 highway marker contests
DHR has stimulated more than $4.2 billion dollars in private investments related to historic tax credit incentives, revitalizing communities of all sizes throughout Virginia
