“Black citizens of Hampton desired to have a resort on the water that would cater to the community. During Reconstruction, the Bay Shore Hotel Company was formed, and a waterfront property was purchased in the fall of 1897…The hotel opened in the summer of 1898 … For years, Bay Shore was the mecca of the black vacationist. The August 23, 1933 storm decimated the resort; however it was later rebuilt.”
Colita Nichols Fairfax. Hampton, Virginia (Black America Series). Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2005, p. 115. You might be especially interested in “Chapter 8: Bay Shore.”
This report of the hurricane damage to the hotel was published in a leading African American newspaper:
“Bay Shore Hotel, Buckroe Beach was washed away Wednesday morning, just about two hours after 32 guests and workers had been rescued in boats and army trucks by U.S. soldiers. Through water neck-deep the last of the guests were taken to safety, while around other parts of the beach tragedies were averted… Parents had trouble getting children out of the hotel and the youngsters had to be carried on shoulders in order to keep them above water…
The main part of the hotel has been entirely swept away … the open-air pavilion is now floating somewhere in the Chesapeake Bay…. Ten automobiles, some from North Carolina and Washington, are three-quarters deep in water in the Bay Shore Hotel garage which has lost its roofing and its runway…. The office of the hotel was wrecked with the massive iron safe found about 200 feet away far into the Chesapeake Bay … Bay Shore Hotel was insured against fire. was not protected against the storm.”
P. Bernard Young, Jr. “Bay Shore Hotel Washed Away,” Journal and Guide, 26 August 1933, p. 1, 15.
“Former Bay Shore Hotel Gets Marker in Buckroe gets historic marker,” Daily Press
https://www.dailypress.com/news/hampton/dp-nws-hampton-notebook-20180615-story.html
“Hampton’s Bay Shore Hotel was Vacation Spot for African-Americans During Jim Crow Era,” Daily Press
https://www.dailypress.com/features/history/dp-nws-bay-shore-hotel-remembered-20150923-story.html
1st U.S. Colored Cavalry 