Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk, Virginia has a long history with great historical importance. It is the city of my birth, so Norfolk, Virginia is my hometown. I remember as a young child of hearing stories about Norfolk. Today, it is certainly time to show its history and its culture in 2016. It is a city that has the second largest population in any city of Virginia. It has the largest Naval base in the world. It is found in the Elizabeth River, the Chesapeake Bay, and it surrounds the Lafayette River. To the North of Norfolk, we have Newport News, Hampton, Williamsburg, and other locations. To the east of Norfolk lies Virginia Beach. To the south of Norfolk is Chesapeake. Portsmouth and Suffolk is to the west of Norfolk too. All of these locations make up the major cities of Hampton Roads (which is the region that is found in Southeastern Virginia and Northeastern North Carolina). Norfolk is an independent city with many diverse people. It has been through economic issues, racial tensions, and educational problems. Yet, it is still in existence today. As a military oriented city, NATO people, Naval people, Army people, and other people of the military are found here. Numerous neighborhoods in Norfolk (like from Downtown to Norview, Park Place, Ocean View, Berkeley, Olde Huntersville, Park Place, Lamberts Point, Sherwood Forrest, Berkeley, Titus town, Young Park, Coleman Place, Ballentine Place, etc.) go back long decades and centuries. Today, Norfolk is growing and it was founded in 1682. It is the corporate headquarters of Norfolk Southern Railway, which is one of North America’s principal Class I railroads and Maersk Line, Limited (which manages the world’s largest fleet of U.S. flag vessels). Norfolk, Virginia is surrounded by interstate highways, bridges, and tunnels. In the beginning, Norfolk, Virginia was inhabited by Native Americans. Native Americans lived in Virginia from ca. 9,500 B.C. In 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh (or an European explorer) searched for a place to establish a permanent English settlement in North America. In mid-July of that year, two of his ships landed in Roanoke Island (or Dare County today). They found the Chesepian Native Americans there according to the journal of Arthur Barlowe (or one of Raleigh’s commanders). Barlowe mentioned that the local Chesepians claimed that a nearby city called Skicoak, which was the Chesepians’ greatest city. The real location of Shicoak has been undetermined. The colony of Raleigh disappeared mysteriously. Jamestown settlers came to Cape Henry (or in Virginia Beach) by April 1607. They found no traces of Skicoak. William Strachey’s “The Historie of Travaile into Virginia Britanica” from 1612 mentioned that the Chesepians had been wiped out by Chief Wahunsunacock (or known as Chief Powhatan), the head of the Virginia Peninsula based Powhatan Confederacy in the intervening years. The Powhatan had huge power in Hampton Roads centuries ago. The image to the left is a statue of Pocahontas. The Colonial Era The Native Americans continued to live in the land, but more Europeans traveled into Virginia. From 1607 to 1775 was the time period of the colonial period in Norfolk, Virginia. The Governor of the Virginia Colony in 1607 was Sir George Yeardley. In that year, he formed four incorporations (called “citties”) for the developed part of the colony of Virginia. The citties were to form the basis of the government of the colony. This government of the colony was part of the newly created House of Burgesses. The southeastern portion of Hampton Roads was under the Elizabeth Cittie incorporation. In 1622, Adam Thoroughgood (1604-1640) of King’s Lynn, Norfolk, England was one of the first Englishmen to settle in the area of South Hampton Roads which included Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, etc. Adam was an indentured servant and he had to pay for the passage to the Virginia Colony. After being an indentured servant, he was a leading citizen of the fledgling colony. At the same time, there were struggles at Jamestown. The Virginia Colony became bankrupt and had its royal charter revoked by King James I in 1624. Virginia became a crown colony. At this time, King James gave 500 acres of land to Thomas Willoughby in what is now the Ocean View section of the city. Willoughby spit is named after Thomas Willoughby. During this time, the population of the Virginia colony about 5,000 people. In 1629, Thoroughgood was elected to the House of Burgesses for Elizabeth Cittie. Five years later, in 1634, the King had the colony reorganized under a system of 8 shires, with much of the Hampton Roads region becoming part of Elizabeth City Shire. In 1636, Thoroughgood was granted a large land holding along the Lynnhaven River for having persuaded 105 people to settle in the colony. Thoroughgood is also credited with suggesting the name of Norfolk, in honor of his birthplace. New Norfolk County was created when the South Hampton Roads portion of Elizabeth City Shire was partitioned off in that same year. During this reorganization, King James gave another 200 acres to Willoughby. This land would be the city of Norfolk in the future. By 1637, New Norfolk County was split into two counties. They were Upper Norfolk County and Lower Norfolk County. The modern city of Norfolk is located in Lower Norfolk. The English couple William and Susannah Moseley migrated with their family to Lower Norfolk County in 1649. On the Eastern Branch Elizabeth River or 5 miles from Norfolk, they built a manor with the Dutch style gambrel roof. This was called Rolleston Hall. It stood up for more than 200 years until it was burned down in the late 19th century. The evil of slavery existed in Norfolk too. By 1670, a royal decree from England wanted the “building of storehouses to receive imported merchandise... and tobacco for export" for each of the colony's 20 counties. This marked the beginning of Norfolk's importance as a port city, due to its natural deepwater channels. Soon after 1673, the "Half Moone" fort at the site of what is now Town Pointe Park. This fort was constructed due to feared attack by the Dutch, but this threat did not materialize. Norfolk quickly grew in size, and by 1682 a charter for the establishment of the "Towne of Lower Norfolk County" had been issued by Parliament. Norfolk was one of only three cities in the Virginia Colony to receive a royal charter, the other two being Jamestown and Williamsburg. The town at first was part of a land northeast of the point of the confluence of the Eastern and Southern Branches of the Elizabeth River (that point is in downtown). By 1691, a final county subdivision took place when Lower Norfolk County was split to form Norfolk County (which is present Day Norfolk, Chesapeake, and parts of Portsmouth) and Princess Anne County (or present day Virginia Beach). Norfolk was incorporated in 1705 and re-charted as a borough in 1736. In 1756, Lt. Governor Robert Dinwiddle presented the growing city of 4,000 (or Norfolk) with a 41 inch long, 104 ounce silver mace. The mace was a symbol of the royal authority and is currently displayed in the Chrysler Museum of Art. By 1774, Norfolk developed into one of the most prosperous cities in Virginia. It was a major shipbuilding center and an important trans-shipment point for the export of goods like tobacco, corn, cotton, and timber from Virginia, North Carolina, to the British Isles and beyond. Goods from the West Indies like rum and sugar including finished manufactured products from England were imported back through Norfolk and shipped to the rest of the lower colonies. Much of the West Indies and American colonial products that flowed through the harbor were by this time produced with the use of slave labor. The Revolutionary War Norfolk was a strong base of Loyalist support throughout the start of the American Revolution. A Loyalist is a person who lived in America, but this person supported the British Crown plus the redcoats. In the early summer of 1775, Lord Dunmore (the last Royal Governor of the Colony of Virginia) tried to reestablish control of the colony from Norfolk. In November, a battle took place at Kemp’s Landing. This provided Dunmore and the loyalists a clear victory. Yet, the war was escalating. The governor immediately issued Dunmore’s Proclamation. This promised freedom to any rebel-owned slave who joined His Majesty’s forces. At the end of November, Dunmore set up a stronghold in Norfolk. He demolished 30 houses in the course of its construction. A few days later, based on false intelligence received, Dunmore's 600 soldiers were defeated in the Battle of Great Bridge, where 102 of Dunmore's soldiers were killed or injured, compared with just one injured soldier for the patriots. Dunmore and their loyalists fled Norfolk and boarded their ship, thus ending 168 years of British colonial rule in Virginia. A Painting (to the right) of the burning of Norfolk, Virginia in 1776. Dunmore remained in the river off Norfolk with a small squadron of armed ships and on New Year's Day 1776, Lord Dunmore's ships began a bombardment that escalated into the Burning of Norfolk. British troops also went ashore to burn down all the waterfront buildings- and thus played right into the hands of their enemies. The rebels were quite happy to see a largely Loyalist city destroyed, happier still to be able to blame it on the British, and over the next two days they encouraged the spread of fires, while looting unburned houses.

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