Seth M. Whaley

BY TRACY AGNEW

Editor

At top, Seth M. Whaley; above right and background image, a sketch of Whaleyville in 1907 (both courtesy SuffolkNansemond Historical Society); above, the Bank of Whaleyville (courtesy “Suffolk: A Pictorial History”).

Even before the business of growing peanuts prospered in Suffolk and caused the place to be dubbed the “World’s Largest Peanut Market,” there was another agricultural product the area that’s now the city of Suffolk was known for — logs.

The southern area of Suffolk was brimming with timber in the early 1800s. As early as 1847, the land nearby was developed for both farming and logging operations, according to “Suffolk: A Celebration of History,” by Kermit Hobbs and William A. Paquette. In December 1877, Seth M.

Whaley purchased a farm in the area and built a sawmill. Although he later sold his timber interests, the developing town was named for him.

The Jackson Brothers Company built a narrow-gauge railroad to haul its timber to Suffolk. A better railroad later came along and increased the town’s prosperity, and along with that more churches, a bank and a district high school.

In 1919, the lumber mill closed and was moved to North Carolina, Hobbs and Paquette wrote.

These days, a smaller but strong community still exists in the village

named after Seth Whaley.