Virginia Beach neighbors unite for grand entrance

VIRGINIA BEACH

When motorists drive by the Wolfsnare Plantation subdivision off North Great Neck Road, civic league president Dan Palaschak wants them to know that the neighborhood’s name wasn’t just made up to sound pretty.

It actually reflects some of the land’s early history.

“This was a working plantation in the 1800s,” Palaschak said, describing how the subdivision’s acreage was originally used.

In fact, Palaschak said the overseer’s house – an old white, wooden two-story home – still stands on Simpkins Lane in the neighborhood.

It is this history that Palaschak and his Wolfsnare Plantation neighbors wanted to mark in August when they dedicated new signs and lighting leading into the notable neighborhood.

Gold-painted medallion signs are on either side of the subdivision’s main entrance on Plantation Drive, along with solar-powered spotlights to illuminate them.

In addition to the subdivision’s name, the signs include the year the subdivision was developed – 1956.

“It really upgrades the entrance, and to me, the community,” Palaschak said. “You can read it, you know when it was established. The sign gives you history as well as identifies the subdivision. It tells a story.”

The civic league spent about $1,800 to replace the signs and lighting. It also landscaped the entrance, adding shrubs and other plants.

It saved a lot of money on the effort, Palaschak said, by doing much of the labor itself. Neighbors volunteered supplies and their own time to spruce up the spot.

Palaschak said the subdivision was one of the first ones built on Great Neck in early 1958 when the neighborhood’s custom-built homes were advertised for sale. Now, he added, the subdivision includes 197 homes on the former plantation site.

“We’ve had so much positive feedback,” Palaschak said. “We kind of wanted to give back to the community in a way. And we wanted to make a statement for Wolfsnare Plantation.”