THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 29, 1995 TAG: 9510250056
SECTION: REAL LIFE PAGE: K2 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Obscure Tours
LOCAL LANDMARKS THAT THE TOUR BOOKS NEVER MENTION
SOURCE: BY KERRY DOUGHERTY, Staff writer
LENGTH: Short : 45 lines
MIDWAY THROUGH Fort Story, nestled in a grove of trees by the side of the main road, is a curious little stone church without a sign to identify it.
Welcome to St. Theresa's Chapel, one of the smallest Catholic churches in Virginia. Its well-worn wooden pews will seat 50 people - if they're all good friends and don't mind sitting mighty close.
This is not the usual venue for Catholic Masses on the Army base. Those are held at 9 a.m. every Sunday in the clapboard First Landing Chapel about a mile down the road.
St. Theresa's was built in 1924 to serve Catholics who summered at the Cape Henry resort - before the Army turned that area into a base.
Legend has it that the pastor of Star of the Sea at that time, the Rev. P.P. Brennan, had the chapel built as a mission church when he learned that parishioner Billy O'Keefe was missing Mass on Sundays. O'Keefe operated a very successful Cape Henry gambling casino during Cape Henry's heyday as a resort separate from the rest of Virginia Beach.
Once Fort Story was enlarged and swallowed up Cape Henry in about 1939, the chapel was closed and became government property by condemnation.
In 1946, the Army renovated the little church and reopened it.
Today, the church is used only occasionally, although it was refurbished again several years ago by the present-day parishioners as the base's Catholic church. All Baptisms are conducted in the quaint chapel. As are small weddings.
``The only drawback is that there's no center aisle,'' laments Maureen DellaTezze, the director of Catholic education at Fort Story. ``But it's perfect for second weddings.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
CHARLIE MEADS/Staff
St. Theresa's Chapel was built in 1924 to serve the Cape Henry area
before it was made part of Fort Story.
by CNB