Petersburg has survived and they've revitalized Old Towne but the rest of the city is crumbling. The Heights, East 36, Walnut Hill etc all in decay. They have a nice lil shopping center on the site of the old Walnut Mall but the rest of Walnut Hill is declining. Pocahontas Island is a fukking shell of itself, it's like 10 people living there now and all the homes are falling apart or been razed, Lotta empty spots where houses once stood...
I remember playing at the basketball court there as a teen and it's done now, grass through the court, one goal leaning halfway down. They really letting Pocahontas Island of all places, be returned to nature...
They've built up the deep deep end of South Crater, moved Southside Regional there, so it's decent over there. Alot of these white people who invested in Old Towne and the near Southside are from Richmond, few moved into them refurbished mansions but mostly they are big monied white investors from Rich who saw money in Downtown Petersburg...
I got love for The Burg, I basically went to high school there (I went to Prince George in the mid-00s). Then I came back for a stretch as an adult and lived in what was lofts above the old Butterworth's store downtown in 2015-16. Never no real trouble during my year there but other buildings in the vicinity of Old Towne were made into lofts and there were robberies and shootings...
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If you remember the old Butterworth's furniture store, it's now an art museum and you can get to it from inside the building. They had bathrooms downstairs and you could slide into it, it was pretty dope; all the upper levels are lofts...
Like I said I do have love for Petersburg but it's so impoverished and violent I can't call it a good place for black people...
Bruh tell me what it was like growing up here! You're older than me, I wasn't alive in '85 and didn't know anything about Petersburg dying before the 90s, because everyone I met always said the city's fortunes went downhill when the tornado hit. So I assumed that to be true. How long have you been away, and what made you leave?
There is soooo much history in Petersburg, especially black history, but you have to want to seek out the charm. There is so much history in Virginia, bro I tell everyone I know there isn't a more historic land for black people in the US than Virginia, and I believe that with all my heart. We have it in fukking spades. It's the birthplace of Black Culture on this stolen land, so so much shyt to learn and explore. Did you know this growing up, or am I just a transplant who was enthralled with seeing stuff I didn't see where I came from (California initially, and as my travels expanded I STILL have never seen anywhere alike Virginia in terms of its historic meaning to black people)?
Okay you were on the white side
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Growing up in The P what was your impression of The Beach? I learned that most locals didn't have good impressions of the city but my experience starkly contrasted that. Most of us are on the western half of the city in Northwest/Southwest VB. I absolutely love it there, need to make a return trip soon!
