Location: West end of Town Point Park beside Elizabeth River, Norfolk, VA 23510

Visited: July 3, 2009, 2:25pm

Transcription of marker:

The Armed Forces Memorial is located here on a river that has for more than 200 years carried servicemen off to war and returned them home to loved ones. Within the Memorial are 20 inscriptions from letters written home by U.S. service members who lost their lives in war. The letters have been cast in thin sheets of bronze and are scattered across the Memorial as if blown there by the wind. From the Revolutionary War through the Gulf War each conflict is represented.

Revolutionary War 1775–1783 • War of 1812 1812–1815 • Civil War 1861–1865 • World War I 1917–1918
World War II 1941–1945 • Korean War 1950–1953 • Vietnam 1962–1975 • Gulf War 1990–1991

Caution: The Memorial contains bronze letters protruding from the walk. Please watch your step and show appropriate respect. Adults should accompany children, and no pets please.

Examples of bronze letters

My impressions: This is quite the unique monument and it is very touching. There is something about letters between people who know each other. And I’m not sure it has translated as well into the e-mail and instant messaging age. Reading these letters feels quite intimate, and that we are getting to hear from these people as they really were.

I also have to admit to some surprise that the Memorial, with its curls of bronze “paper” on the ground was ever approved. It seems that so easily somebody could trip and fall (though I believe there is ample space around them for wheelchair/walker access). I wonder if the fact that it’s surrounded by water on two sides (and therefore is not a “convenient short-cut” to anywhere, as well as only having two entrances in the brick wall that surrounds the memorial helped.

I am glad that it is there, because I think it fulfills excellently its function of helping us to remember the sacrifices made by those who have served and those who were left behind by family members who served their country (and those who could not return).

Markeroni status: Direct-logged.

Cannonball Trail
Battleship Wisconsin: Berthed in Norfolk, the Homeport of Naval History

Location: Foot of Plume St, Norfolk, VA 23510

Visited: July 3, 2009, 2:20pm

Transcription of marker: Redefining the skyline of downtown Norfolk, battleship Wisconsin stands stoically with dominating presence. After months of dredging and construction, Wisconsin majestically slipped into the seemingly tailored berth without a hitch on 7 December 2000–fifty-seven years after the warship was originally launched. Berthing the 45,000 ton, 887.3 foot long and 108 foot wide battleship was a major feat of engineering. The waters of the Elizabeth River around Nauticus are extremely shallow for the 37 foot deep draft of Wisconsin. Varying tidal and weather conditions further complicated the berthing facility design. Working in conjunction with City of Norfolk and U.S. Navy planners, architects from the Norfolk-based firm Glenn & Sadler designed the channel and berthing facility next to Nauticus. Chained securely for hurricane force winds, Wisconsin presently floats on the water at an average of two to four feet above the bottom. This marker made possible by a gift from Glenn & Sadler, a Division of Transystems Corporation.

My impressions: I’m a little underwhelmed by this marker. Rather than the history of the ship, it focuses on how it came to be where it is, but doesn’t draw further back than a decade. It is also the last sentence that bothers me. This is the only Cannonball Trail sign I’ve seen to date that includes a sponsorship message. I might be OK with it, were the company donating it not also mentioned in the marker text. It almost makes me wonder whether the first mention of Glenn & Sadler was warranted or a matter of rewarding a donor in some way. I mean, I’ve never heard of Glenn & Sadler other than from this marker, but there is a perception problem, I think, when one recognizes a contribution made by somebody who sponsors the marker (and, presumably in this case, requires their name to be recognized as a sponsor). It diminishes the credibility of the marker text and makes me less inclined to trust it without further research.

Setting that aside, the presence of Wisconsin on the waterfront is another of those things that indicate that I’m not a long-timer here. Even though it’s been there less than a decade, it is another of those things (like Town Point Park) which define downtown Norfolk in my mind.

Markeroni status: Direct-logged.

Cannonball Trail
Town Back Creek and Stone Bridge

Location: City Hall Ave & Monticello Ave, Norfolk, VA 23510

Visited: July 3, 2009, 2:05pm

Transcription of marker: Town Back Creek, extending eastwardly from the Elizabeth River almost to St. Paul’s Church, was the northern end of the original town of Norfolk. By the early 1800’s new residential development had occurred north of the creek. Two early footbridges connected this newer area to the old town, one at Catherine (now Bank) Street in 1798 and one at Granby Street in 1801. In 1818–1819 the one at Granby Street was replaced by Stone Bridge. It was built by William H. Jennings  and was distinguished by an arched rise at its center. The bridge remained a local landmark until 1884 when filling of Town Back Creek to Granby Street was completed. City Hall Avenue was developed in 1885 as a grand boulevard from the City Hall (now MacArthur Memorial) to Granby Street. Most of the remainder of Town Back Creek was filled by 1905 and City Hall Avenue was extended westward. Major construction at this corner included the Monticello Hotel in 1898 and the Royster Building in 1912.

My impressions: Coming into a new place, it is quite hard to think of an urban downtown area as ever having been anything else. In most cases, very few traces of that earlier time remain, other than a river or railroad that may run through or past the city. Today, I would not have known that bridges were once needed in what is now downtown Norfolk. Always interesting to see those markers which are reminders of things we can’t see today.

Markeroni status: Direct-logged.

Cannonball Trail
The Cedar

Location: West end of Town Point Park, near Nauticus museum.

Visited: July 3, 2009, 12:40pm

Transcription of marker: A cedar tree near this location, then known as Foure Farthing Pointe, was described in the original patent describing the western boundary of the 50 acres that comprised Norfolk Town. In August 1680 John Ferebee, surveyor for Lower Norfolk County, was instructed to survey a town site on the Elizabeth River. This was completed in October 1680, but it was not until August 1682 that the county, through its agents Anthony Lawson and William Robinson, bought the town site from Nicholas Wise, a shipwright. The price was ten thousand pounds of tobacco. The surveyed town site extended eastward from this point along Main Street, formerly Front Street, on a ridge of high land to Dun-in-the-Mire, generally where Harbor Park is now located. The other principal road, “the road that leadeth out of town,” went north from the current intersection of Main Street and St. Paul’s Boulevard. The original town site was laid out with half acre lots for houses and business. The lots were priced at 100 pounds of tobacco.

My impressions: This is a newer look at much of the same history as was found in the Four Farthing or Town Point marker I posted about on Thursday. As somebody attempting to transcribe markers, one of the things it highlights for me is how much easier it is to fully understand a marker when it is written in mixed case. A case in point: it wasn’t until I read this marker that I was sure that I had correctly transcribed “Lower Norfolk County” in the previous marker. In the earlier marker (written entirely in capital letters) there was no way to know if this was just the lower part of Norfolk County or a separate jurisdiction. It’s also nice to have the map illustration on this marker, even though these markers seem less permanent than those with raised letters.

Markeroni status: Direct-logged.

Location: East end of Town Point Park, near the intersection of Waterside Dr & Martins Ln, Norfolk, VA 23510

Visited: July 3, 2009, 11:30am

Transcription of marker: In the 1950s the waterfront contained an assortment of aging facilities — wharves, warehouses, rail lines, ship chandlers, tugboat operations, and ferry docks. The City of Norfolk made a significant decision. An area of downtown along the Elizabeth River should be transformed from a working waterfront into a public waterfront. As the old was cleared, the new appeared, beginning with the public esplanade and hotel in 1974. The first Harborfest celebration in 1977 demonstrated that public attractions could help revitalize downtown. Town Point Park and the Waterside Festival Marketplace opened in 1983. Nauticus, the National Maritime Center, anchored the west end of the waterfront in 1994.

The three cannons at the head of Otter Berth were found during the dredging of this part of the waterfront in 1982. They are of unknown foreign origin, but their vintage is compatible with the bombardment of Norfolk on January 1, 1776. Otter Berth is named for HMS Otter, one of Lord Dunmore’s ships that bombarded Norfolk on January 1, 1776.

My impressions: It seems quite fitting for me to have seen this marker on the first day of this year’s Harborfest. Nice when coincidences like that happen. It’s funny that, even though there are stretches of “working waterfront” not too far away, I find it impossible to think about Norfolk without its park beside the river. It is my favorite part of Norfolk’s downtown.

Another thing I like is in the last paragraph of the marker, where there is an acknowledgment that we don’t know everything about history, such as the exact origin of the cannons in the park (which, I have to admit, I don’t recall seeing). It would have been all to easy to make leaps to a presumed origin for them, and while the marker comes close to that, it acknowledges the lack of knowledge and allows the reader to make a guess as to the answer.

But most of all, I’m just glad the waterfront is there to be enjoyed.

Markeroni status: Direct-logged.

Location: Elizabeth River, at the High St ferry landing, Portsmouth, VA 23704

Visited: June 23, 2009, 3:20pm

Transcription of marker: The Elizabeth River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay, runs between the cities of Portsmouth and Norfolk. The river was named “Elizabeth” in honor of Princess Elizabeth Stuart, the eldest daughter of King James I of England.

The river was first called “Chesapeake,” after the tribe of Native Americans who lived on its banks. They were an Algonquin-speaking people who depended on the land and water for existence. When John Smith explored the eastern area in 1608, he saw their “golden plots” and other indications of Native American habitation.

My impressions: I can get all caught up in the differences between Canadian and American history that I can sometimes forget about the similarities. And as I come to the end of the photos from this trip to Portsmouth (a city with a name that would be at home in England), along a river named for Elizabeth (ditto), and prepare to cross back to a city named Norfolk (ditto), this (especially coupled with the photos you’ll see in today’s bonus third post) reminded me that we share a lot of history from before our paths diverged.

Markeroni status: When Path of History data entry is complete, I’ll be logging this visit on Markeroni.

Path of History
Fort Nelson Park

Location: Fort Nelson Park, corner of Crawford Pkwy & Effingham St, Portsmouth, VA 23704.

Visited: June 23, 2009, 1:55pm

On my last trip to Portsmouth, I came across Fort Nelson Park which contained roughly a dozen Path of History markers about Portsmouth Naval Hospital. I’m crossing my fingers, hoping that I managed to get all of them. (I’ll have to double-check next time I’m in Portsmouth.)

Given the large number of images and markers included in this post, I will spare the front page of this site and ask you to click the link to see the markers and their texts, but I’ll break with my traditional order and open this post with:

My impressions: I was impressed with the pleasant setting for these markers. That said, I was disappointed (on a hot June day) not to find more shade. Thinking back, I’m wondering what may have stood on that site before the park, which only opened three years ago.

Related to this: See Monday’s post for a state historical marker about Fort Nelson.

Transcriptions of markers:

[I entered the park from the south-east corner. When I reached the circle of markers, I moved from that point counter-clockwise until I got back to the start. Then, I looked at the markers moving towards the south-west corner. Markers are transcribed here in the order that I found them. (If there are any markers outside the circle in the north-west corner, I will have to return to find them. It was not clear from my photos if there were markers in that direction.)]

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“Early Naval Medicine”

Naval regulations of 1798 state: “A convenient place be set apart for sick or hurt men, to which they are to be removed with their hammocks and bedding when the surgeon shall advise the same, and some of the crew appointed to attend them.” Aboard ship, the sick were usually cared for in an area on the main deck between two gun ports. This space became known as “Sick Bay.” The ship’s medical officer carried the title of Surgeon or Surgeon’s Mate. In those days, medicine was primitive. It consisted of “remedies,” dressing of burns and wounds, blood letting and amputations.

* * * * *

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“Hospital Fund”

The British had a custom of taxing its sailors for their health care. In 1798 Congress established the “Hospital Fund” based on the British system. 20 cents per month was deducted from the pay of each officer, sailor and marine to provide for his health care. At that time, shore-based medical treatment took place at the Gosport Shipyard. Patients were treated, not in hospitals, but in sail lofts, storerooms, or other work spaces. They had to contend with noise and the odors of the shipyard and the surgeon couldn’t provide proper care. Enough money had been collected by 1821 to build naval hospitals in key ports. In 1830, the Navy’s first hospital opened in Portsmouth.

* * * * *

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“Hospital Point”

The Naval Hospital faces a peninsula surrounded by the Elizabeth River. In 1636, Captain Thomas Willoughby received a land grant from the King of England that included this peninsula. The land was used as a plantation and changed owners several times. It has been known by various names: Mosquito Point, after the pesky critters that inhabited the adjoining swamp; Tucker’s Mill Point, after the family who operated a windmill on the site; Musket Point and Fort Point, after the revolutionary port of 1776 to 1824; and now Hospital Point, the site of the first U.S. Naval Hospital.

* * * * *

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“The U.S. Navy’s First Hospital”

In 1826, Philadelphia architect John Haviland submitted construction plans for this hospital. This building, which houses offices is now known as Building 1, was made of granite and freestone. Its style is classical Greek Revival architecture, which was popular for public buildings at that time. Construction began on April 2, 1827. Workers removed more than 500,000 bricks from old Fort Nelson and re-used them in the foundation and inner walls. In July 1830, Surgeon Thomas Williamson, who was stationed at the shipyard, was ordered to make the hospital ready to receive patients. Dr. Williamson became Medical Director of the nation’s first naval hospital. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.

* * * * *

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“Naval Burying Ground 1838″

There are 840 graves of seamen and soldiers in the naval cemetery on the hospital grounds. They include the remains of seamen from the U.S., Great Britain, France, Spain, Germany, Russia, Brazil, Denmark and Japan. The oldest known burial was a sailor who fell from the rigging of the USS CONSTITUTION (Old Ironsides). There are Union and Confederate graves, including those of soldiers, as well as victims of the 1855 Yellow Fever epidemic. The cemetery contains 113 graves marked unknown and three recipients of the Medal of Honor. Some headstones were erected by shipmates and include the names of famous ships.

* * * * *

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“Yellow Fever Epidemic”

In June 1855, the steamer Franklin put into Norfolk for repairs while sailing from the West Indies to New York. Mosquitoes carrying yellow fever escaped when the vessel docked. The Naval Hospital’s first yellow fever patients came from Gosport’s Marine barracks. As the mosquitoes spread, the local population quickly succumbed to the disease. By August, 20 to 70 citizens per day were stricken. In desperation, representatives of Portsmouth appealed to the Navy to treat townspeople. The hospital was then opened to the local population and 587 citizens were treated. In appreciation, the Common Council of Portsmouth presented gold medals to six naval surgeons.

* * * * *

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“The Navy’s First Corps School 1902″

On June 17, 1898, President William McKinley signed a bill establishing the Navy Hospital Corps. Navy Corpsmen are trained in the science of health and nursing skills necessary to provide proper patient care at hospitals, ships at sea and to the U.S. Marine Corps. The first Navy Corps school graduation took place at Portsmouth Naval Hospital in December 1902 when 28 students completed the course. The outstanding lifesaving record of the Corps, while caring for the sick and wounded during battle and peacetime, has made it one of the most decorated among the military services.

* * * * *

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“Building 215, Tidewater’s First Skyscraper 1960″

Building 215 was constructed to provide a much needed modern hospital and to centralize the medical departments scattered around the base. The 500-bed hospital became the command’s second primary hospital facility when commissioned in April 1960. Towering 17 stories, it was the tallest all-welded steel-framed building from New York to Miami. Along with the latest medical equipment, it had a cobbler shop, tailor shop, entertainment auditorium, Navy Exchange and modern galley. In 1973, twelve American prisoners of war from Vietnam were received on the 12th floor, where they were reunited with family and given time to recuperate.

* * * * *

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“Hospital Renovation 1907–1910″

By 1900, time and use had taken its toll on the hospital building. In October 1907, the Navy’s Bureau of Medicine and Surgery ordered hospital personnel to remove patients to tent-covered wooden platforms constructed several hundred yards away from the building. Patient care took place in these tents for nearly a year and a half while the hospital was renovated. During this period, two new wings and the Jeffersonian dome were added. The hospital reopened in February 1909. From 1910 to 1940, surgeries were performed under the dome by skylight. The dome is now a Hampton Roads landmark for locals and mariners who travel the Inland Waterway.

* * * * *

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“World War II and Korea 1937–1953″

World War II created the need to rapidly expand the hospital in 1941. The $1.5 million program increased the number of hospital beds to 3,441. A dental clinic, ships service, library and a bank were added. The staff — medical officers, nurses, corpsmen, marines and civilians — swelled to 3,055. On a single day in August 1944, there were 2,997 patients. Between 1937 and 1948, residency and intern programs were established through the Graduate Medical Education system. The sprawling facility escaped post-war downsizing from the expansion of two world wars and went on to serve during the Korean War.

* * * * *

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“World War I 1917–1918″

When the United States entered World War I, immediate steps were taken to expand the hospital. Several temporary wood-framed buildings were constructed to accommodate the ever-growing number of patients. These buildings included 34 patient pavilions and four Hospital Corps barracks. In the course of one month during 1917, the patients increased from 200 to 1,405. The largest monthly admissions were in October 1918 when the number of patients reached 2,257. Treatment of measles and mumps accounted for half of the patients. The hospital also treated large numbers of patients during the Great Influenza Outbreak of 1918.

* * * * *

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“Navy Nurse Corps 1908″

The Navy Nurse Corps was created by Congress in 1908, allowing women to perform duties that previously had been done by men. They held no rank and were titled “Nurse.” The first 20 to graduate were known as the “Sacred Twenty,” and of them, three reported for duty at Portsmouth in April 1909. Among them was Lenah Higbee, who became Chief Nurse at Portsmouth, and later became the second Superintendent of Nurses for the U.S. Navy. In 1964, the Secretary of the Navy signed his approval to allow male nurses in the Corps.

* * * * *

[The sunlight reflecting off my photo of the next marker made some words difficult to decipher. Square brackets below indicate uncertainty in transcription.]

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“Spanish — American War 1898″

After the Spanish defeat at the battle of Santiago, Cuba, in July 1858, the sick and injured needed treatment. The newly converted hospital ship USS Solace transported 55 sick U.S. Navy and 48 wounded [sailors] to the hospital. The Spanish prisoners suffered mostly from burns and were placed in the North [Wing. The] hospital staff treated these patients, not as enemies, but as fellow seamen in distress. After the war, [Admiral] Pascual Cevera and Captain Victor M. Concas of the Spanish Navy praised the compassion and [humanitari-]an acts of kindness extended to them and their countrymen by Portsmouth Naval Hospital.

* * * * *

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“Civil War 1861–1865″

Virginia seceded from the Union on April 17, 1861. On April 20, the Governor ordered the 3rd Virginia regiment to occupy and fortify the Naval Hospital grounds. A battery of earthen works was hastily erected on the point and renamed Fort Nelson, after the revolutionary fort of 1776 to 1824. During the Confederate occupation, the hospital served as a medical facility and a fort. The Union retook the area on May 10, 1862, and until the end of the war, the hospital cared for Union soldiers and sailors. In 1865, the hospital treated nearly 1,300 patients.

And there, we have more than I expected to find on historical markers about the naval hospital at Portsmouth.

Have a great Fourth of July weekend, and I’ll be back with more historic sites and markers beginning Monday!

This post will be the only one today, and it will be followed tomorrow with a special history-related (but not historical-marker-related) post. On Thursday, I’ll resume looking at markers I found on a recent trip to Portsmouth, VA in a mega-post about Fort Nelson Park, which contains roughly a dozen markers from Portsmouth’s Path of History, which I’ll combine in one post so we don’t have an entire week or two on the history of the Portsmouth Naval Hospital.

Now on to the marker about Collier’s Raid:

State Historical Marker
Virginia Q-8-G
Collier’s Raid

Location: Crawford Pkwy & Washington St, Portsmouth, VA 23704

Visited: June 23, 2009, 1:55pm

Transcription of marker: A British fleet under Commodore Sir George Collier sailed up the Elizabeth River and shelled Fort Nelson in May 1779, during the Revolutionary War. A landing force of 1,800 infantrymen led by Brig. Gen. Edward Mathew captured the fort on 10 May after a brief resistance. The British occupied Portsmouth, Gosport, and Norfolk, and burned Suffolk and the Gosport shipyard. Collier also captured or burned 137 vessels in Hampton Roads and dismantled Fort Nelson. The British force then embarked and sailed to New York.

Department of Historic Resources, 1998

My impressions: As somebody from outside the US, from a country that peacefully moved from colony to country, it takes me aback to think that this was happening in 1779, three years after that “magic” date of 1776. Reading the marker it seems almost random: the British forces did a lot in this area and then the one cryptic sentence: The British force then embarked and sailed to New York.

It almost sounds like “Nothing left to destroy here, we might as well move along…want to catch a Broadway show?” This is actually a tantalizing taste to me. That one sentence on its own seems so incongruous that it leaves me wanting to research what actually happened. WHY did they leave here and sail to New York?

Markeroni status: Logged.

Location: Crawford Pkwy, where the road curves beside the river, Portsmouth, VA 23704.

Visited: June 23, 2009, 1:30pm

Transcription of marker: The Elizabeth River, explored by Captain John Smith in 1608, was named for Princess Elizabeth. Shipbuilding activity began in 1620 when John Wood, a shipbuilder, requested a land grant. Many historic ships were built at the naval shipyard here, including the USS Delaware, first ship dry-docked in America, and CSS Virginia (ex-Merrimac) first ironclad to engage in battle.

Virginia State Library, 1959

My impressions: This feels like a “name-dropper” marker. I guess a river can’t really do anything itself, so a marker would have to commemorate those who have used it for historical purposes. But it does seem rather empty and lifeless.

Markeroni status: Logged.

Location: NW of where Commercial Pl & E Main St meet, Norfolk, VA 23510

Visited: June 1, 2009, 2:55pm

Transcription of marker: When a survey was done in 1680 to lay out the town of Norfolk, one of the few streets shown was “the street that leadeth to the waterside.” The original location was just to the west of this site. It fanned out from Front (now Main) Street south to the Elizabeth River. As the new town developed, this area became its commercial hub. When a market was built here near Front Street in the early 1700’s the area became known as Market Square. At the river’s edge a ferry dock and commercial wharves developed. About 1900 the name changed again, to Commercial Place. This illustration “Old Norfolk Evening” by artist John Morton Barber, recreates the southern end of Market Square/Commercial Place in 1887. Double-edged steam ferries shuttle back and forth across the Elizabeth River to Berkley and Portsmouth. The English ship Carnarvonshire is being towed into the harbor to load goods for her voyage across the Atlantic, and the side-wheel steamer Luray is carrying passengers downstream toward Town Point.

My impressions: I’ve been near this spot before but hadn’t really paid attention to the marker, nor the small strip of green around it in downtown Norfolk. This circle is dominated by a Confederate monument (which I’ll have to snarf at a later date, since my bus came before I could take a photo of it).

Markeroni status: My visit was logged on Sunday, after the marker was added to the database.