I am always struck by the difference between Gettysburg and Virginia Beach when I visit. That might be because I am visiting one and live in the other or it could be a real difference in local temperament and outlook.
Perhaps the Gettysburg Nextdoor is full of people raging about the tourist and complaining that the city only does things for the tourist and whenever you mention downtown or the battlefield to locals they mention how they never go there because there was a lot of violence in 1863 and it’s too dangerous.
Locals in Virginia Beach treat the boardwalk as if it is The Fury Road. When in reality it has no more or less violence than any place where lots of people gather and consume alcohol. In fact I think going several years between murders is pretty good statistically, but talk to any local over a certain age and they will bring up Greek Fest from the 1980’s as ironclad proof that the Oceanfront is dangerous.
Meanwhile in Gettysburg I am blind to these discussions. I do know that there were clashes between biker gangs and Black Lives Matter protestors in 2020. I am not sure if locals talk about that as proof that this city is going to pot and too dangerous for them to go to the battlefield and downtown areas. I really am without a clue.
All I know is how it feels. I am sitting here in a local coffee shop. One of several. And like all the rest it is aggressively geared towards locals. I can say the same about a place like Zeke’s Beans and Bowls in Virginia Beach but Three Ships is debatable and V Love has no character at all out side of they serve coffee.
There is a difference between a one of one historical even as tourist attraction and a beach. No one comes to Virginia Beach to see the are where the first permanent English settlers first landed in The New World. It is there. Marked with a small cross. No one comes to see it. They come to lather themselves in Panama Jack tanning oil and lay on the beach. Something they can do all up and down the Eastern Seaboard and beyond.
And maybe that is the entirety of the difference. People live and work and vacation in Gettysburg for the same reason while people live in Virginia Beach for hundreds of different reasons and the beach is either a bonus or bane.
David Huzzard Writes 