Morton's Restaurant
Known Name(s)
Morton's Restaurant
Address
221 15th Street West Point, VA
Establishment Type(s)
Restaurant
Physical Status
Demolished
Description
Building demolished in 2013. From Fairfield Foundation’s “Hidden Civil Rights Landmarks in Rural Eastern Virginia: A Preliminary Study,” to Virginia Humanities, March 2020: “This business is no longer extant but was located at 221 15th St in West Point. A new house (post-2015) stands on the site of the restaurant and has the same address. According to the current property owner, the restaurant was torn down in 2015 because it had fallen into disrepair. The modern house was documented in VCRIS as resource 325-5014, and the GB history was noted.”
Detailed History
The restaurant was demolished circa 2015 and a new house constructed on the lot. Fairfield Foundation documented the modern house in VCRIS as resource 325-5014, noting the Green Book history. The restaurant business ran in the family. Walker Jackson Morton, who passed away in 1979, married Gloucester VA native Lillian (Miss Lillie) Clayton. Her parents, Levi and Kerry (?) Tazewell Clayton operated a restaurant in Gloucester. Morton was from King William, near the Pamunkey reservation. His parents had a tea room in King William, "past Saint John's on the right." According to local sources, Morton's Restaurant was so good that truckers planned their trips around stopping here. Many thanks to Lucille Thornton Evers and Francis Evers for providing this oral history.