A day at Moore’s Lake beach, circa the mid-1950s (Photo courtesy Chesterfield County Historical Society)
Norma Corbin was in her teens in the 1950s when she started going with friends to Moore’s Lake in Chester. “I went there like every teenager,” she says. “Everybody enjoyed going there. Kids came from all over, especially to go to the dance pavilion.”
Now 83, Corbin, president of the Falling Creek Ironworks Foundation, recently secured one of the two remaining brick cottages at the lake for Chesterfield County Parks and Recreation to relocate to Falling Creek Ironworks Park. Moving the cottage to the park, just a few miles west on U.S. Route 1, “provides an opportunity to interpret a part of the history of Route 1,” says Stuart Connock, chief of parks for Chesterfield County. “The cottage also adds to the historical nature and interpretive opportunities at the park, the location of the nation’s first ironworks.”
The cottage was highlighted in May during the park’s commemoration of the 400th anniversary of Falling Creek Ironworks.
Moore’s Lake, built in the 1920s, consisted of a man-made lake with water slides, approximately 40 brick cottages and a dance pavilion. A restaurant was added in 1941. The Moore’s Lake property was a prime example of the cottage courts that flourished along Route 1 from the 1920s until the Interstate Highway System network was developed after the 1950s.
“Moore’s Lake serves as a reminder of a bygone time when Route 1 was the main highway from Maine to Florida,” Connock says. “It was a popular vacation spot.”
Corbin looks back on those days at Moore’s Lake as the “best of times,” she says. “It was a good family place. There were a lot of family picnics.”
To give the man-made lake an authentic feel, developers added a sandy lake bottom as well as a sandy beach. “It was as good as Virginia Beach, but you didn’t have to drive as far,” Corbin says. “The lake had a bathhouse where you could change your clothes and leave them in a basket until you were ready to leave. They gave you a little key for the basket.”
Corbin spent most of her weekends at the lake. “We would swim and play in the lake during the day and when it closed down, we would go dancing at the pavilion,” she says, noting with a laugh that many of the girls that frequented the lake went to check out the lifeguards.
When the sun went down, the jukebox in the open-sided dance pavilion revved up and kids began to dance. “That’s where a lot of people learned to dance,” Corbin says. “If the guys didn’t know how to dance, the girls taught them.”
A restaurant stood at the entrance to Moore's Lake. (Image courtesy William Bird Postcard Collection)
A POPULAR STOPOVER
During the early- to mid-20th century, the cottages at Moore’s Lake were popular with travelers. Established by R.D. Moore in 1920, the cottages were either one-, two- or three-room units with single beds. Many of the small dwellings were scattered randomly about to create a more rustic ambience. Back in the day, they were considered to be a luxury getaway.
“Moore’s was one of the premier tourist lodging courts and one of the most advertised along Jefferson Davis Highway [Route 1],” says Connock, adding that it was “later purchased by George and Lena Crump, who modernized the cottages by adding bathrooms.”
Moore’s continued to gain prominence on the East Coast, especially after Duncan Hines — the man, not the mix — recommended Moore’s to travelers. Long before there was a cake mix bearing his name, Hines traveled the country as a salesman. He was one of the first to rate restaurants and motels and eventually published several travel-related books. He was also a member of a number of motel associations, including the American Motel Association and the Virginia Tourist Court Association.
Moore’s Lake also served as a home away from home for the families of servicemen stationed at Camp Lee in nearby Petersburg during World War II. “Several of the wives found work as waitresses in the restaurant, serving meals,” Connock says. “Even the older children of service families found work as dishwashers, gardeners and lifeguards.”
The brick cottages at the lake thrived until Interstate 95 was built in 1958, which pulled much of the traffic from the Jefferson Davis corridor. Large hotels and motels began to spring up along the busy interstate. “The small motor courts began to experience a decline and eventually went out of business,” Connock says. The lake, which was segregated until the “last decade or so of its existence,” closed in 1985, according to a 2006 Richmond Times-Dispatch report.
The Crumps’ son, Tommy, was raised in the brick home his parents built on the Moore’s Lake property. Like other kids in the neighborhood, he took advantage of the lake, the slides and the dance pavilion. In 1970, he and his wife purchased the cottages, an adjacent gas station and restaurant that he renamed Sylvester’s.
Eight years later, developer Dave Sherrill purchased the Moore’s Lake property. Corbin, on behalf of the county and the foundation, contacted Sherrill about donating the one-bedroom with a bath cottage to Chesterfield County Parks and Recreation in 2017 and Sherrill agreed. He donated the cottage in August 2018.
“We wanted to move the smaller of the two cottages because it would be less expensive [to move],” Corbin says, adding that the remaining cabin has two bedrooms.
A brochure from the 1940s touted the lake’s attractions. (Image courtesy Library of Virginia)
MOVING DAY
Preparations to move the cottage to Falling Creek Ironworks Park took approximately two days. Crews worked on the cottage at Moore’s Lake and also prepared the foundation at the park. The county hired movers trained to work with historic structures to shore up the cottage so it wouldn’t encounter a lot of bumps and rattles as it made its journey to the park. After it was stabilized, a crane lifted the small brick building onto a flatbed for towing.
“The structure was securely strapped in place before the wheels began to turn,” says Joe Stovall, parks construction manager. “The cottage traveled eastward along Jefferson Davis Highway on Valentine's Day. It was a sweet move of just over two and a half miles.”
During the move, police were stationed at each traffic light along the route. “Keeping the cottage in motion prevented additional damage from the stress of starting and stopping,” Stovall says.
The trip down Route 1 took approximately 20 minutes. After the cottage arrived, workers prepared it for placement on the new foundation. Additional work was needed to permanently secure the building on the foundation. The inside of the cottage will not be open to the public at first, but the outside will be interpreted to tell the Route 1 story.
A one-bedroom cottage was donated to Chesterfield County Parks and Recreation in August 2018 and was moved in February to nearby Falling Creek Ironworks Park. (Photo by Jay Paul)
A NEW DEVELOPMENT
A portion — around 64 to 66 acres — of the Moore’s Lake property was sold to developer George Emerson for the development of The Jane at Moore’s Lake Apartments. Emerson remembers swimming at Moore’s Lake when he was young. “It was bustling,” he says of the lake. “There were always a lot of people there.”
Emerson bought the property because he liked the location, which is between I-95 and state Route 288. “It is also walkable to shopping,” he says. “It has great visibility.”
He has already completed 200 of the 385 units, and plans to begin construction in late summer on the remaining 185 units. Amenities in the development include a clubhouse, fitness center, swimming pool with infinity deck, business center, cyber cafe, outdoor kitchens and bocce ball.
Both the new development and the relocated cottage remind Corbin of the fun times at the lake. “I’m excited to see what’s been done with the property,” she says. “You can’t save everything, but at least we saved the one cottage that will remind people of Moore’s Lake.”
