Fort Monroe, circa 1910s

This is the personal photograph collection of William Elton Beale, Sr., which includes photograph prints he captured of various scenes in the Hampton Roads region and beyond.  The initial donation of six photograph prints received on July 30, 2025 includes images that depict the Norwegian Lady masthead at the Virginia Beach oceanfront sometime in the early 1910s; Fort Monroe in Hampton, Virginia in the 1910s; a Curtiss Golden Flyer in-flight in the 1900s; construction of the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel in the mid-1950s; and imagery that documents the escort of the USS Maine off of the coast of Havana to be ceremoniously sunk with military honors in 1912.

An accretion to the collection was received soon after on August 6, 2025 that includes nine additional photograph prints. These prints depict people enjoying a recreational day at the beach from the early 1910s; the steamboat The Cherokee; sailors and their partners in a garden during the 1940s; and scenes from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge during the 1960s.