THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 19, 1996 TAG: 9605180086
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 07 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 44 lines
Waving signs and warning about the destruction of a piece of city history, a handful of residents Thursday protested the planned construction of a bank and a pharmacy in the heart of Great Bridge.
Developers of the site, on the corner of Battlefield Boulevard and Cedar Road, had refused a city offer to buy the $1.2 million land and preserve it as a park and historic area.
Faced with that refusal and the owners' threat to erect a strip shopping mall instead of more architecturally pleasant structures, City Council in November approved developers' plans for the drive-through bank and pharmacy.
Many viewed that as a death knell for efforts to save the three-acre lot, which now is covered by grass and trees.
But protesters said they hoped to prompt the developers and City Council to reconsider.
``As long as nothing's built yet, it's not a dead issue,'' said Robert K. Parker, 36, a Great Bridge resident and organizer of a group loosely called Friends of the Chapel Green.
Protesters waved signs reading:
``We will boycott whatever you build''
``Our history is our identity: Let it survive''
``Don't want it, don't need it, didn't ask for it so. . . Don't do it''
Parker and one other protester donned reproductions of Revolutionary War-era soldiers' uniforms, as they marched up and down the sidewalk on the corner of Battlefield and Cedar.
The property is believed to have been the site of the Southern Branch Chapel, which was said to be the headquarters for patriot forces who defeated the British in a strategic battle of the Revolutionary War in 1775.
``Chesapeake's not in the history books for very much, but we're in there for the Battle of Great Bridge,'' said Diane O. Mahoney, a Great Bridge resident who participated in the demonstration. ``Why in the world the powers-that-be won't do anything to preserve it, I can't understand.'' by CNB