While early flight tests took place off the deck of the USS Birmingham as early as 1910, it wasn’t until 1919 that construction of America’s first aircraft carrier began. The USS Langley (CV1) was officially commissioned on March 20, 1922 and was named after Samuel Pierpont Langley, one of America’s first aeronautical engineers. On October …
Navy Yard greatly expanded; three new drydocks and 24 ships built. National Guard units from Portsmouth joined the A.E.F. in France. Employment reached a peak of over 11,000 workers by 1919. The government developed two planned communities to accommodate workers: Cradock for White employees and Truxton for Black employees. The USS NORTH CAROLINA (BB-52) was …
The Great White Fleet which Theodore Roosevelt assembled to circumnavigate the globe illustrating America’s naval power sailed out of the shipyard and was greeted home by the president in 1909. The four squadrons of warships, dubbed the “Great White Fleet,” were manned by 14,000 sailors and marines under the command of Rear Adm. Robley “Fighting …
Captured Spanish warships were brought to Portsmouth to be refitted as American vessels. The Spanish wounded were brought to the Naval Hospital where they were visited by the defeated Spanish Naval Commander and President Theodore Roosevelt. The shipyard had the second oldest Marine barracks in the nation. Marines from Portsmouth saved the embassies in China …
This was the Battleship Texas: the first in the U. S. Navy. The Texas was built in reaction to the acquisition of modern armored warships by several South American countries, and meant to incorporate the latest developments in naval tactics and design, including the mounting of her main armament en echelon to allow maximum end-on …
George Teamoh was born a slave in Norfolk County. Prior to the Civil War, he escaped to the north and to freedom. in 1865, he returned to Virginia and attended an African-American political convention in Alexandria. Upon his return to Portsmouth, he worked at the Naval Shipyard and focused his efforts on workers rights. In …
There was a shifting mix of military and civilian authority in Portsmouth during this period. As the federal troops were forced out of the ship yard, they burned it to keep federal forces from gaining access to the ships, weapons, and technology housed there. The Federal troops occupied Portsmouth for the remainder of the war.
Dr. White, Portsmouth’s delegate to the secession convention, voted against secession on April 17th though he did end up joining the Confederate army afterwards. One Portsmouth company, the Marion Rifles, was disbanded after 14 of the 15 soldiers voted against the secession referendum in May. While there were those Portsmouth citizens who served the Confederacy, …
President Franklin Pierce was entertained here. The hotel has served as quarters for Confederate officers and as a Federal Hospital. It was destroyed by fire 9 August 1957.
In June of 1855, the worst Yellow Fever epidemic to hit this country arrived in Portsmouth and Norfolk with the arrival of the steamer Benjamin Franklin. Several thousand became ill and thousands of others tried to leave only to be met with quarantine in other counties. Over a thousand people from Portsmouth died and it …
Built by Page & Allen, Neptune’s Car was a 216′ clipper ship that became known for her speed. Her first voyage was from New York to San Francisco and it took 117 days around Cape Horn. The ship traveled the world visiting ports like Calcutta, Foo Chow, London, and beyond. Mary Ann Brown Patten, wife …
It was a sidewheel steam frigate combining sail and steam. Commissioned in November 1852, it was assigned to the East India Squadron, arriving in June 1853 and became Commodore Perry’s flagship for the signing of the Treaty of Kanagawa with Japan in 1854. ‘When it entered Ido harbor the Japanese said the Americans had brought …
John S. White was the first Mayor of Portsmouth. He served for one year. He was followed by two more one year mayors. It was in 1858 that Portsmouth separated from Norfolk County and incorporated. George W. Grice was the first Mayor as an independent city and he served for two years.
It was the first safe house after escaped slaves passed through the Great Dismal Swamp. They would be hidden in the church until a sympathetic sea captain could be found to give them passage north.
The 1846 Courthouse, now an art gallery, was the primary court for all of Norfolk County.
Open to white students, families who could were expected to pay a small tuition while poor children’s tuition was paid by the state and the Glebe. There were two broad divisions in these schools corresponding somewhat to our present primary and grammar grade departments, with each further divided into male and female sections. The primary …
The ferry landed at North Street for many years as it was closest to Norfolk and minimized rowing. However, High Street was the commercial area with North Street more residential, it made sense to relocate the stop for passenger convenience and to stimulate commerce. Today, the Elizabeth River Ferry serves both High Street and North …
This was predecessor of the Seaboard Airline Railway (now CSX Transportation).
The Portsmouth Naval Hospital sits on a peninsula joining the Elizabeth River at a site that once housed Fort Nelson, a fort built during the American Revolution. To save on costs, part of the hospital was built with the bricks from the fort. The first patients arrived in 1830 as a result of the Mexican-American …
The Marquis de Lafayette was a hero of the American Revolution, having orchestrated the blockade of British reinforcements at Chesapeake Bay, allowing the Americans to win the Battle of Yorktown and ultimately the war. He returned to American in 1824 and toured much of the east coast, including a stopover in Portsmouth. Today, there is …
Construction of the Delaware begin in 1817 at the Gosport yard. Launched in 1820, she did not put to sea until 1828 when she sailed to the Mediterranean where she stayed for two years. In 1833, the Delaware was recommissioned and hosted President Andrew Jackson before returning to the Mediterranean to for goodwill visits and …