Tidewater Whispers: 10 Virginia Events They Skipped in Your History Class

Virginia is often introduced through Jamestown, Yorktown, and Monticello, yet the Commonwealth’s deeper waters teem with lesser-known adventures. From a daring female balloonist who shocked Civil War generals to a Cold War bunker built beneath a sleepy resort, these stories reveal sides of Virginia rarely spotlighted. Together they trace unlikely inventions, forgotten battles, and social breakthroughs that shaped both local life and national currents. Dive into a decade’s worth of surprises—all hiding behind the more famous chapters of Old Dominion lore.

Grace Sherwood: The Last “Witch” Ducking in America

In 1706, midwife Grace Sherwood was accused of cursing livestock in Princess Anne County. Authorities ordered a “ducking” to test her innocence: if she floated, she was guilty. Sherwood bobbed to the surface; crowds deemed her a witch. Imprisoned for years, she later regained her land and lived into her eighties. Three centuries later, Virginia Beach formally pardoned Sherwood, turning a once-fearsome legend into a lesson on colonial superstition.

Balloonist Nets a Civil War Spy Ring

During the Peninsula Campaign of 1862, Thaddeus Lowe’s Union balloon corps launched surveillance flights over Confederate lines. Less known: one daring ascent carried young aeronaut Edward Porter Alexander—who promptly defected and created the South’s own balloon unit. Rival balloons traded intelligence on troop movements above Richmond’s swamps. Though short-lived, these sky-high scouts marked America’s first aerial-recon duel, foreshadowing modern military aviation born over Virginia’s battlefields.

The Lost Ironclad CSS Richmond

While the iconic Merrimack and Monitor battled at Hampton Roads, Confederate engineers in Richmond were building a sister ironclad, CSS Richmond. Launched in 1862, she never saw major combat—blockades bottled her upriver. As Union forces neared the capital in 1865, Confederates scuttled the vessel to keep her from capture. Portions of her armored casemate were dredged up in 1900, but most of the Richmond still sleeps beneath the James River, overlooked amid better-known naval relics.

Greenbrier’s Secret Congressional Bunker

In the 1950s, at the height of Cold War fears, the government covertly built a 112,000-square-foot fallout bunker beneath the luxury Greenbrier Resort (just across the state line but tied to Virginia’s congressional delegation). Codenamed “Project Greek Island,” the shelter could house the entire U.S. Congress for 40 days. Stocked with dorms, a TV studio, and decontamination showers, it remained secret until a 1992 exposé. Today guided tours reveal blast doors hiding behind what was once innocent hotel décor—Virginia politicians’ emergency refuge in plain sight.

First Successful Electric Streetcar

While other cities experimented, Richmond perfected it: in 1888 engineer Frank Sprague installed the first practical electric streetcar system, with overhead wires powering 40 cars over 12 miles of track. The system handled steep Church Hill grades and sharp turns, convincing urban planners worldwide. Within a decade, more than 100 U.S. cities adopted Sprague’s technology, sparking a streetcar boom—and it all began rattling along Richmond’s cobbled avenues.

Maggie Walker’s Bank of Empowerment

In 1903, Richmond businesswoman Maggie Lena Walker founded the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank, becoming the first Black woman to charter and preside over a U.S. bank. Her institution issued mortgages, taught thrift, and shielded Black families from predatory lenders during Jim Crow. Despite the Great Depression, the bank survived multiple mergers and still operates today as part of Consolidated Bank & Trust—an enduring monument to Walker’s visionary economic activism.

The Great Virginia Earthquake of 1897

Tremors rarely rattle the Blue Ridge, but on May 31, 1897, a magnitude-5.8 quake near Blacksburg cracked chimneys from Georgia to Pennsylvania. Landslides blocked mountain roads, and Virginia Tech students fled swaying dormitories. Though no one died, the event remains the state’s strongest recorded quake. Geological surveys later traced the shock to ancient faults under the Giles County seismic zone—quiet most days, yet powerful enough to remind Virginians the ground can still lurch unexpectedly.

Pocahontas Island’s Free Black Haven

Long before the Civil War, a peninsula in Petersburg became one of the South’s earliest free Black communities. By the 1830s, Pocahontas Island thrived with Black artisans, boatmen, and entrepreneurs. Its strategic river location turned homes into Underground Railroad stops; legend says Harriet Tubman guided runaways here. Though post-war industry encroached and floods damaged buildings, surviving cottages and a small museum testify to the island’s role as a rare antebellum refuge of Black autonomy.

The Day NASA Nearly Lost Apollo 7

During 1968 training at Langley Air Force Base, Apollo 7’s command module prototype sprang a fire in its environmental chamber—echoing the tragic Apollo 1 blaze the year before. Quick-acting engineers vented oxygen and extinguished flames, preventing another fatal disaster. Lessons from Langley’s scare led to further wiring and materials overhauls, contributing to Apollo 7’s triumphant launch later that year. Virginia’s hidden crisis quietly safeguarded America’s return to manned spaceflight.

Yorktown’s Forgotten French Memorial

Tourists flock to Yorktown’s Revolutionary War battlefield, yet few notice a modest granite shaft near the surrender field: the French Memorial. Dedicated in 1931, it honors some 50 French soldiers who died aiding America’s fight for independence. Inscribed in French and English, the marker pays tribute to comradeship that tipped the war’s balance. Its low profile amid grander monuments mirrors how easily this Franco-American partnership slips beneath broader narratives—still anchoring humble thanks on Virginia soil.