When Edward Collings Knight Jr. and his wife, Marie-Louise leBell, purchased this property in 1922, the Lighthouse Club, a hunting club, already existed on land just to the south. After the Knights completed a new private residence in 1925, they demolished the club, dredged a waterway completely around the house site, and renamed the property Corolla Island. A pair of bridges spanned the waterway.
Since there was no public road to Corolla Island until 1984, access was a challenge. Visitors generally arrived by boat from the mainland or drove on the beach. The Knights and their servants traveled 33 miles down the sand from Virginia Beach, before crossing their bridge.
The restored surviving bridge, the main house, and the boathouse are on the National Register of Historic Places.
Text with upper photo: Aerial of Corolla Island. Photograph courtesy of Rex and Gilbert Henley.
Text with lower photo: Photograph of bridge in 1992 before restoration.
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