This was my family's vacation spot in the 50s and 60s. Waterview Motel at one end of the beach and Sans Souci at the other. My dad and uncle used to fish off the pier. I remember the old Breakwater Hotel, the Pavilion with dancing. Snow cones, Texas Corn game, real French fries w/ vinegar served in paper cone cups. I remember pulling a string and winning whatever was on the other end. Picking a duck. The Ferris Wheel, carousel. The "dips" which we called the roller coaster. Looked like the tallest thing in the world to me back then. I remember standing on the pier and looking at the people at Bay Shore. Unheard of back then for us to "mix". I remember Roberts', Todds' and Gordons' cottages. I remember the lighthouse with the goldfish around it. The drugstore and picnic tables where the buses used to unload. WOW, I'm old!
By: Dogluvr

This was also our family's vacation spot in the 50's and 60's every summer. We would leave Philadelphia would visit my grandparents in Richmond very summer. Mom and Dad got time off as we spent time with our cousins for a wonderous summer. Bigmom( grandmother) would pack up all of the cousins( there were 6 of us) and we would be off for a whole week at the beach. Wonderful times were had at the amusements and treasure hunting on the beach at night, and playing in the surf in the mornings. I remember the smell of crabs cooking and my first taste of a raw clams

I also remember the fence that went out into the surf that separated the Bayshore side from Buckroe. I was from Philly and had no idea what was going on or why it was there. When I was 8 yrs old ( 1959) I remember squeezing through the fence to see what was on the other side and why there were only white people on that side of the Beach. I remember distinctly that day as it was the only time in my life I had ever seen my grandfather agitated and seemingly angry. It scared the hell out of me! When he calmed down he hugged and told me "never wander off again". My cousins explained segregation to me later, which conceptually puzzles me to this very day.
By: THEBEAR1969

Buckroe Beach memories from the 1940s and 1950s before the Amusement Park was torn down.

My fondest childhood vacations were at Buckroe Beach in the 1940s and 1950s. Several families would take the train from Main Street Station in Richmond, Virginia. Then we took the bus from Phoebus to Buckroe Beach. I road the "Dips" (roller coaster) for the first time when I was five years old. What a thrill! My mother and her daughter went to Buckroe with us in August 1958. My boyfriend was in the U.S. Navy, and he had 10 days leave before going overseas. He came to Buckroe on that Friday night. I was so excited to see him. I did not know he had leave. We were all at the Pavillion on Saturday night. It began to rain, so my boyfriend and I ran back to the cottage to put the windows down. On the way back to the Pavillion, he stopped right in the middle of the street and asked me to marry him before he went overseas in September (10 days away). I was awed! Of course I said yes. Then we had to tell Mama. Her response was, "I think I can do it." Could she pull off a wedding in 10 days. My mother could do anything. On August 29, 1958, I married Norris (Skipper) Hayes in our living room at 3016 Floyd Avenue. At precisely 8 p.m., I (Carole Jones) became Mrs. Norris H. Hayes. Skipper left for a Mediterranean Cruiz on September 3, 1958. He was gone for six months. Buckroe Beach became my favorite place in August 1958. Skipper and I were married for 22 and one half years before he died in February 1981. We had 4 daughters. I LOVE BUCKROE BEACH. WHAT A THRILL!
By: Chkipp