Getting to Know Princess Anne
Most people who visit Virginia Beach never make it here. That's sort of the point. Princess Anne sits south of the resort strip, past the strip malls and the new subdivisions, where Princess Anne Road narrows, and the farms begin. This is the Virginia Beach that existed before the boardwalk, before the hotels, before anyone thought to build a Ferris wheel by the ocean. It's still here, if you know where to look.
Drive through this part of town, and you'll notice the name everywhere. Princess Anne Road, Princess Anne High School, and the Princess Anne Courthouse. It’s a name so familiar that most people never stop to ask why. In 1691, colonists named this new county after Princess Anne, the daughter of King James II. She wasn’t queen yet, but her name carried weight. It stuck for more than 250 years.
When Virginia Beach and Princess Anne County merged in 1963, the name could have disappeared entirely. But enough people felt attached to it that parts of it remained. The name lives on in this neighborhood, in the schools, in the roads that still follow the old county lines.
The Local's Pickleball Secret
Tucked inside the Princess Anne Recreation Center, something unexpected draws locals on weekday evenings and weekend mornings. Three indoor wood courts host a pickleball community that's been growing for years. Best of all, it’s free.
The rec center itself is where locals go for everything, whether it be basketball, fitness classes, after-school programs, or senior activities. In January, it hosts the
Winter Wildlife Festival kickoff, a free day of exhibits and kids' activities that draws families from across the city. But the pickleball courts are the heart of it. Part of what makes this special is the crowd. Walk in on any given day, and someone will invite you to join.
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Where the Wild Things Are
The Princess Anne Wildlife Management Area sits at the southern edge, where Back Bay meets the Atlantic Flyway. Birders come before sunrise with binoculars and field guides, hoping to spot tundra swans in winter or ospreys in spring. Birders have documented about 200 species here, and the eBird checklists read like a birder’s bucket list.
What brings people here changes with the season. Spring and summer belong to kayakers and anglers. On calm mornings, paddlers glide through marshes where herons stand motionless. Bank fishing can yield catfish, bass, and sunfish—honest fishing in a beautiful place.
Even the impoundments themselves hold water year-round, enough that sunfish, bass, and even bowfin make their homes in the ditches. You don't need a boat to find them.
To visit, you need a valid Virginia hunting or fishing license, boat registration, or an access permit. It’s a small price for 1,500 acres that feel like they belong to another century. Pack what you need, because there are no concessions. Just the marsh, the wildlife, and the sky.
A Different Pace
Princess Anne offers something increasingly rare: room to breathe. About 1,100 people live in the neighborhood proper, though the larger area includes thousands more. People here know their neighbors. They wave when you pass. They volunteer at the local fire station and show up for community clean-up days without needing to be asked.
Drive through on a Saturday morning, and you’ll see it: kids selling lemonade, a guy mowing his elderly neighbor’s lawn, and flags flying at the end of every lane.
Built for the Coast
All of this requires structures that can hold up to coastal conditions. Salt air drifts inland from the ocean. Humidity finds every seam. Storms remind everyone what the coast demands.
For the homes and properties in Princess Anne, we must ensure our custom metal gates swing true year after year. Whether it's a driveway gate for a farmhouse or a man-gate to a pedestrian walk, our railings don't surrender to rust, and our fences keep working so the quiet and the history can keep being the main attraction.
If your Princess Anne property needs metalwork that can handle this coast, contact us for a consultation.
