Markers of History

Path of History
The Elizabeth River

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.

State Historical Marker
Virginia Q-8K
Elizabeth River

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.