Camp Pendleton (Virginia)

Camp Pendleton is a 325acre state military reservation in Virginia Beach, Virginia, named after Brigadier General William N. Pendleton, who served as Robert E. Lee's chief of artillery during the Civil War. It lies on the Atlantic coast slightly east of Naval Air Station Oceana.HistoryThe facility was laid out in 1911, with construction beginning in 1912, as the State Rifle Range for the use of the state militia. Between 1922 and 1942, it was named after the then serving Governor of Virginia, being firstly named Camp Trinkle (1922–1926), then Camp Byrd (1926–1930), Camp Pollard (1930–1934), Camp Peery (1934–1938), and Camp Price (1938–1942). During both World Wars, the base was federalized. In World War I it was used by the U.S. Navy for coastal artillery training and during World War II it was controlled by U.S. Army, who first applied the name Camp Pendleton.National Register of Historic PlacesThe Camp Pendleton-State Military Reservation Historic District was designated a historic district and listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 26, 2005. The camp initially was about 400acre in size. The original 1912 construction mostly related to the rifle range, but most of those buildings were demolished prior to World War II. A second major construction phase began in 1919, during which the U.S. Navy focused on improvements to the rifle range. Those buildings have also been demolished, but the layout of both the first and second phase remains. The third and final phase of construction was the responsibility of the U.S. Army during World War II; most of the camp's remaining buildings date from that phase. At the time it was listed on the National Register, Camp Pendleton had 108 buildings in a condition good enough to qualify them as contributing properties.