Markers of History

Cannonball Trail
Margaret Douglass

Location: City Hall Ave, between Monticello Ave and Granby St, Norfolk, VA 23510

Visited: July 3, 2009, 2:10pm

Transcription of marker: Margaret Douglass, a white woman from Charleston, South Carolina, moved to Norfolk with her daugh­ter Rosa in 1845 and lived near here on the for­mer Barraud Court. She was a vest maker by occu­pa­tion. In June 1852 she and her daugh­ter opened a school in the sec­ond story back room of her house to teach 25 free black chil­dren, both boys and girls, how to read and write. Tuition was three dol­lars a quar­ter. After she was seen walk­ing in the funeral pro­ces­sion of one of her deceased stu­dents, her school was raided, and she was arrested. She argued her own case in court, point­ing out that the wives and daugh­ters of sev­eral court offi­cials taught black chil­dren weekly in Sunday School classes at Christ Church from the same books she used. After being found guilty, she served a month in jail. Later she moved to Philadelphia with her daugh­ter and gained con­sid­er­able noto­ri­ety based on her book­let about her expe­ri­ence in Norfolk that was pub­lished in 1854.

My impres­sions: In order not to get com­pletely wound up about how wrong the world was at that point, I’m just going to thank the city of Norfolk for hav­ing the hon­esty to place a marker to recall a shame­ful part of its history.

Markeroni sta­tus: Direct-logged.

National Register of Historic Places
and State Historical Marker
Virginia Q-8-B
Monumental Methodist Church

Visited: June 1, 2009, 1:55pm

Location: Corner of Dinwiddie St & Queen St, Portsmouth, VA 23704

Transcription of State Historical Marker:

This church, founded 1772, is one of the old­est Methodist churches in Virginia. The first build­ing was erected, 1775, at South and Effingham Streets. The church was moved to Glasgow Street near Court in 1792. It estab­lished the first Sunday school in Portsmouth in 1818. Monumental was moved to this site, Dinwiddie Street, in 1831.

Virginia Conservation Commission 1948

Transcriptions of other markers:

Marker #1:

Monumental UMC
has been placed on the
National Register
of Historic Places
by the United States
Department of the Interior
Nov. 14, 1772

Marker #2:

A. D. 1772
Methodist Society formed by Rev. Robert Williams of England and Isaac Luke of Portsmouth, Virginia

1775
Built at South and Effingham Streets

1792
Moved to Glasgow Street near Court

1818
Formed first Sunday School in Portsmouth

1831
Moved to this site and erected Dinwiddie Street M. E. Church

1856
Built Emanuel M. E. Church North Street for col­ored members

1866
Erected Sunday School chapel

A. D. 1872
Built Monumental Church in mem­ory of the founders 

My impres­sions: It’s there. The exte­rior of this church isn’t a type that moves me. (Yet.) I say that because I would have had a sim­i­lar reac­tion to the inte­rior of my cur­rent church before it became my church. And that non-reaction is prob­a­bly inten­si­fied by the fact that I was get­ting tired. I’d taken a lot of pho­tos and seen a lot of his­tory in the short time since I’d arrived in Portsmouth and it was at this point in the day that I started head­ing back towards the ferry home. And, for me, the inside of most churches is more impres­sive than the outside.

Notes for future snar­fers: It’s Portsmouth, there are LOTS of his­toric sites. If you’re local, just come on over and go wild. If you want to get as much as you can, do the research before you arrive

Markeroni sta­tus: My visit was logged today.