At Long Last, a Regional Library for the Eastern Shore
By Curtis J. Badger
In 2009 Barack Obama took office as the first Black president of the United States. The New York Yankees defeated the Philadelphia Phillies to win the World Series, and Slumdog Millionaire won an Oscar as best motion picture. Closer to home, a group of Eastern Shore residents and one descendant formed a foundation to raise money to build a new regional library to replace the outdated, inadequate facility in Accomac.
Fourteen years and three presidents later, the Yankees are in last place, but the stalwart group of library supporters finally won their version of an Oscar, a spanking new regional library in Parksley.
The new library, which opened on August 26, is a miracle of sorts, and it represents a profound transformation. When Barack Obama began his first term of office, the building in Parksley was a Fresh Pride grocery store, an aging, moldy brick building soon to be locked and shuttered for good. It was Parksley’s last grocery store, known widely for its fried chicken.
There is nothing remotely reminiscent of fried chicken now. The only hint from the outside that the building might have been a commercial structure is the row of large windows that grace the front. From the inside, those windows are shaded and provide soft, welcoming light for the reception hall and a children’s reading room. The vaulted ceiling provides a sense of open space, and the bold graphics of the circulation area provide the focal point for the entry to the library.
Staff offices and work spaces are located behind the circulation area, and the main stacks begin just beyond, with comfortable seating, computer stations, and several group study rooms where small meetings can be held. In addition to the computer stations, laptops are available at the circulation desk for the use of visitors.
This area absorbs the footprint of what in President Obama’s day was the Fresh Pride market. Across the hallway lies the major addition to the library, the long-awaited Eastern Shore of Virginia Heritage Center. The old library in Accomac had a collection of local books, photographs, manuscripts, and genealogical material in an area called the Eastern Shore Room. The Heritage Center is like the Eastern Shore Room on steroids.
The area is accessed off the entry hall by a corridor that doubles as gallery space which will feature a revolving exhibit of art, photography, maps, and other media dealing with Eastern Shore history and heritage. To the right of the gallery space is the Brooks Miles Barnes Archive Room, more than 1,000 square feet of storage space for Eastern Shore documents, maps, photographs, and other material. The items in the room are stored in archivally proper, fireproof conditions. Adjacent to the archive room is the Eastern Shore Room, where materials from the old room in the Accomac library are stored.
The documents and other materials in these spaces are available to researchers and students, and new materials are being scanned and will be stored electronically.
The Heritage Center provides the only facility on Virginia’s Eastern Shore where historic documents and other material can be stored in archival conditions and made available to researchers. Previously, documents created by local historians, researchers, and writers were either lost to the public or went to libraries and museums off the Shore.
Across the gallery hall from the archive room is the Dennis R. Custis Lecture Hall, a meeting room where classes and public presentations will be held. The area includes a catering kitchen where meals can be prepped and served.
This wing also has a special section for teenage readers and maker space where small classes can be held. The Friends of the Library will operate a gift shop in this wing, just off the main entry hall.
The opening of the new regional library and the heritage center is the culmination of many years of effort by many people, said John Edmonds, president of the Foundation Board.
“This has been a journey, and as with any journey, there have been challenges along the way,” said John Willis Edmonds, IV. “Chief among them was the Covid 19 pandemic, which struck at the height of the project, making labor and materials difficult to obtain. There were unforeseen construction issues such as mold and an inadequate roof structure. But we survived these obstacles, and today the Eastern Shore has one of the finest public libraries of any rural area of the state. It is leading the people who cross its portals into the 21st Century.”