OK. I was going to wait and let someone actually in the Virginia Beach area
answer this query, but I don't want to wait until after everyone has speculated
on the "pleasure" being served.

Pleasure House Road still exists and is a few short miles from my mother's
home. I have no "historical reference" to cite here, but I was always taught
that the Pleasure House was a "gaming establishment" and tavern, but that this
was much later in its history. It began, as I am informed, as a plantation
house, was burned and rebuilt, and then became this tavern later on. Unless I am
sadly mistaken, there was some remnant of an acting tavern even into the middle
of the 20th century.

I believe it was rebuilt after the 1813 visit of His Majesty's own, citing
from the "Private Record of Walke Family in the United States" (Rear Admiral
Henry Walke, USN) (underlining mine):

During the summer of 1816 and 1817, the parents of the writer were frequently
invited by his uncle, Thomas
 Williamson, the  well-known and highly esteemed cashier of
 the  Bank of Virginia, at Norfolk, to "spend a week"
 at the "Ferry" plantation with their children. On these
 occasions, the Williamsons, McIntoshes, Walkes,
 Thoroughgoods,   and Moseleys, with other relations and
 friends, would make up excursions or fishing  parties to
 Lynnhaven Bay. The  fishermen and servants were sent in
 advance with tents, furniture and refreshments for the
 company. We all started off in great glee, stopping at
 Witchduck and other points for more friends. The children
 and nurses  rambled along the bay shore, looking for sea
 shells and enjoying the sea breeze,  while the ladies and
 gentlemen were dancing or listening to the music. There was
 in view Cape Henry, the Pleasure House, Fortress Monroe, the
 old  Indian  Mound, the long beach reaching to the ocean at
 Cape Henry, and the gay ships sailing up and  down, which
 made a lasting impression on our memories.

Somehow, I don't believe this venerable man would be speaking of a house of
"personal services" being seen from a family picnic area.

There is also a Meeting Room within the US Naval Amphibious Base, Little
Creek, Chief Petty Officer's Club, named after the Pleasure House. Again, I do not
believe they would have institutionalized a house of ill repute.

From "Gleanings on Walke Family Homes", Calvert Walke Tazewell:

One of the Thoroughgood mansions, called the Pleasure
 House,  was  on  the bay shore near Lynnhaven River, west of
 the Ferry "four or five miles." It was destroyed by sailors from the British
fleet in 1812 for which Congress vorted an
 indemnity. The other  was on Church Point, Lynnhaven
 River.--Historical Sketches, p. 49.

So... just my $.02 worth of information.

Jon Strickland
Atlanta

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