Hampton’s historic Aberdeen Gardens neighborhood comes to life in new documentary

Three years ago, playwright, author and Hampton native David Bar III embarked on a journey to create a documentary about the historic Aberdeen Gardens neighborhood in Hampton.

Today, “The Aberdeen 158: Built for Us, By Us” is finally complete, available to stream online and rent at Hampton’s public libraries.

“I’m just over the moon about it,” Barr said. “You can’t even know how happy I am.”

Aberdeen Gardens is a 440-acre community designed and built by African Americans for African Americans. The district straddles Aberdeen Road and is roughly bounded by Langston and Mary Peake boulevards and Russell, Lewis, Weaver and Walker roads. It was among 55 New Deal housing programs established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s.

It initially consisted of 158 brick homes for Black people working at the Newport News shipyard, and rail-yard workers, fishermen, farmers, and other professionals. Barr said that of the 158 homes built, 156 still stand today.

The first 158 families moved into Aberdeen Gardens about 85 years ago, in 1937. Barr’s grandparents — Lenrow Milo Sr. and Ruth Simpson Milo — were among the first families to live in the Depression-era resettlement. He didn’t live in Aberdeen Gardens, but Barr spent much of his youth visiting his grandparents there.

“She was the best grandmother in the world, and (he) was one of the best men I’ve ever known, my grandfather,” Barr said. “When they moved in, it was a dirt road. They had to have wagons, because they didn’t have a car, pull all their furniture.”

In February 2020, the Historical Foundation of Aberdeen Gardens sought a federal grant from the 400 Years of African American History Commission to create a documentary recounting the history of Aberdeen Gardens and the Black families who lived there. The foundation was awarded the grant in June 2020.

The documentary was directed and co-written by Tomeka Winborne and co-produced and co-written by Terrena Smith — a member of the foundation and Barr’s first cousin. Like Barr, Smith also has fond childhood memories of visiting her grandparents at Aberdeen Gardens.

Most of the filming and interviews took place in October 2020 around the neighborhood, including the Aberdeen Gardens Historic Museum on Mary Peake Boulevard and at the Tucker Cemetery.

“We actually finished the day my father, David Barr Jr., died,” Barr said in an email. “We resumed filming (on) Oct. 25, the day after his funeral. Everyone told me I was crazy, but I was obsessed, and it’s what he would have wanted, frankly.”

Smith said the filming crew was able to interview many people who were part of the original Aberdeen Gardens community and that they had “quite a few” entertaining stories to tell. But, unfortunately, she said many of the people interviewed died between the time of the documentary’s filming and completion.

“The timing of the filming was so good because we were able to capture them prior to their passing and get them on film, telling their stories of how they grew up in Aberdeen Gardens and so on,” Smith said.

The foundation premiered the film for special guests in September at the American Theatre in the Phoebus section of Hampton. Smith said she was pleased with how the film turned out and was excited to see it play out before a packed audience on a large screen.

“I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen,” she said. “I just sat there and watched. It’s different from when (watching it) on the editing floor. To see that final production of the whole thing is just amazing to me.”

Barr said the success of the premiere was “an affirmation that the work has not been in vain and that the neighborhood hasn’t been forgotten.”

Foundation president Margaret Wilson, 83, also had grandparents who were among the first families to live at Aberdeen Gardens. She lived with them from age 5 until she was 22.

“Mostly what you see in the documentary are the people talking about how they their lived there, what they did, what it was, what it meant to them,” she said. Wilson said she’s glad that the community’s history is finally being told through the documentary, and hopes it encourages Hampton residents to want to take a tour of the Aberdeen Gardens — through the foundation — to learn even more.

The film had its broadcast premiere last week on Jan. 9 and 10 respectively, on the 400 YAAHC streaming channel smogotelevision.com and their official website www.400YAAHC.gov. Additionally, the documentary is available to stream online on the channel and is now available for rent at Hampton public libraries. If people want to purchase a DVD copy, they can contact Wilson at 757-722-1183.

“This documentary encapsulates the unprecedented national history made by our small but tight-knit community,” Barr said in an email. “And it is historic. Not only is it listed on the National and Virginia State Register of Historic Places, but Aberdeen Gardens was also named National Neighborhood of the Year twice by Neighborhoods USA (NUSA). As a native Hamptonian, I think this story of unbreakable persistence and unshakeable resilience provides a healthy template for all American neighborhoods to emulate.”

Josh Janney, joshua.janney@virginiamedia.com