First Landing State Park

The site where English colonists first landed in 1607 before establishing Jamestown. The 2,888-acre park contains rare cypress swamps, maritime forest, and Native American history.

First Landing State Park holds the dark distinction of being Virginia's most haunted park, a 2,888-acre sanctuary where centuries of tragedy have left an indelible supernatural mark on the land. This is where America truly began—on April 26, 1607, English colonists aboard the Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery made their first landfall at Cape Henry before proceeding to Jamestown. But theirs was not a peaceful arrival. By day's end, Native Americans had attacked the 30 Englishmen onshore, wounding two with arrows—the first violent clash between colonists and indigenous peoples in what would become a centuries-long tragedy.

The land the colonists set foot upon belonged to the Chesapeake (Chesepian) tribe, whose name meant "big salt bay." But the Chesapeake themselves had already suffered a terrible fate. According to William Strachey's 1618 account, the paramount chief Powhatan had ordered the tribe annihilated sometime before 1607, based on a vision that foretold his destruction by people from the east. Some historians believe survivors of the 1587 Lost Colony of Roanoke had settled among the Chesapeake, and that they too perished in the massacre. By 1669, the tribe had ceased to exist entirely.

Yet the Chesapeake's presence remains. In the 1970s and 1980s, as Virginia Beach developed into choice real estate, archaeologists excavated human remains—including a chief buried with over 30,000 shell beads—dating from 800 B.C. to 1600 A.D. For nearly two decades, 64 Chesapeake souls sat on shelves at the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. In 1997, thanks to Nansemond Chief Emeritus Oliver Perry and the eight recognized Virginia tribes, the remains were finally laid to rest in a sacred ceremony at First Landing on April 26—exactly 390 years after the colonists' arrival. The small burial circle, just 20 feet across and marked by a sign near a parking lot, is their final resting place. Visitors report eerie feelings and paranormal encounters here, particularly at night. Some claim to hear distant drumming and chanting—perhaps the spirits of the Chesapeake reminding the world of their presence.

But the park's most famous ghost is far more terrifying: the headless specter of Blackbeard the pirate. In the early 1700s, the notorious Edward Teach used Cape Henry's windswept dunes and cypress trees as a lookout post, stationing men atop "Pirate's Hill" to scan the Chesapeake Bay for merchant ships to plunder. If government ships approached, they held off; if trade vessels appeared, they attacked. The park's cypress swamps provided fresh water—the tannic acid from decaying bark acted as a preservative—making it an ideal hideout for pirates, merchants, and later, military ships during the War of 1812 and Civil War patrols.

Legend holds that when British Navy ships finally closed in, Blackbeard and his crew hastily buried their plunder in the nearby dunes before escaping through the park's narrow inland waterways to North Carolina. There, on November 22, 1718, Lieutenant Robert Maynard captured the pirate after a bloody battle at Ocracoke Island. Blackbeard was beheaded, his corpse thrown into the inlet, and his head suspended from Maynard's bowsprit. It was later placed on a pole at the entrance to Chesapeake Bay as a warning to other pirates, where it stood for years.

But death did not end Blackbeard's connection to Virginia. According to legend, his headless ghost returned to First Landing State Park, eternally searching for his lost treasure. Sightings are most commonly reported after dusk—a headless figure wandering the dunes, mysterious footprints appearing in the sand, chilling breezes sweeping through on still nights. Old-timers say that before the area became a state park, prospectors brought heavy excavation equipment and spent weeks digging in the dunes, always unsuccessfully. The story goes that whenever anyone got close to finding the stash, Blackbeard's ghost would appear, chase them away, and move the treasure to a new location. The pirate's booty remains unfound to this day.

The ghosts of Blackbeard's crew are also encountered. Their ship is said to have sunk off the coast, and visitors have reported ghostly voices in the cypress swamps, shadowy figures moving through the woods, and a disturbing presence near the water at night. Some believe the restless spirits of the 1607 colonists also haunt the trails—figures in period dress who vanish into the trees when approached. Strange lights hover over the ancient swamps after dark, and whispers of warning echo through the forest to those who venture too deep.

Today, First Landing State Park is Virginia's most-visited park and a National Natural Landmark, the northernmost place on the East Coast where subtropical and temperate plants grow together. But beneath its natural beauty lies a haunted landscape where pirates, massacred tribes, and doomed colonists left their mark. Whether you come for hiking or ghost hunting, respect the burial ground, watch the dunes at dusk, and remember—if you get too close to Blackbeard's treasure, you may find yourself face-to-face with the headless ghost of the most bloodthirsty pirate to ever sail the high seas.