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 …
The flagship of Admiral Perry’s fleet when he opened Japan, the Powhatan, was built in Portsmouth.
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.
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 …
Lightships were in use in England since the 1730s. The first U.S. contract for a lightship was awarded in 1819 to John Poole of Hampton. In 1820, the ship was complete and anchored just off Willoughby Spit as an aid to commercial shipping vessels. The position was deemed too volatile due to storms and heavy …
The British, under Adm. Sir John B. Warren and Brigadier Gen. Sir Sydney Beckwith were defeated at the Battle of Craney Island. The British heavily outnumbered the Americans and took many casualties, including King George’s son. The American forces were able to protect Portsmouth and the Shipyard without an adequate Navy in the region and …
First ship built here for the U.S. Navy. The Chesapeake was attacked by the British in 1807. The attack led to the court martial of James Barron and ultimately to the duel with Stephen Decatur. The same attack was a contributing cause of the War of 1812. The ship was eventually captured off the coast …
“He was reinforced by Gen. Phillips with 2,000 troops, and later by the Army of Lord Cornwallis, who assumed command, and in August evacuated Portsmouth for Yorktown, where he surrendered to American and French forces on October 19th. Arnold was subordinate to Phillips, but when Phillips died at Petersburg Arnold made Portsmouth command headquarters for …
General Cornwallis hoped to divert attention from his push through North Carolina to Virginia by occupying Portsmouth. When the loyalists lost battles in North Carolina, Cornwallis ordered Leslie and his remaining troops to set sail and join him in Portsmouth.
During the invasion Fort Nelson was captured, 137 vessels were burned along with the Gosport Shipyard, “The Most Considerable in America.”
After his defeat at the Battle of Great Bridge, his ships bombarded Norfolk. He made his final stand at Hospital Point, Portsmouth, before being driven from the harbor. Portsmouth was then occupied by the 4th Virginia Regiment, and Fort Nelson was built at Hospital Point. Short of troops Dunmore issued the first emancipation proclamation saying …
An early skirmish of the American Revolution where the Tories were defeated by the Virginia Regiment. Portsmouth native, Billy Flora, a free black man and Portsmouth’s local blacksmith, is often called the Hero of Great Bridge. He was a sentry and took it upon himself to fire on the British as they advanced across the …
This was the best location on the coast for a shipyard because of the sandbank in the Elizabeth River which allowed ships to be easily careened: the predecessor to drydocking.
Crawford named the town for Portsmouth England because the U.K. Portsmouth had the most famous shipyard in Great Britain. Portsmouth, England, also has a famous Naval Hospital, as does Portsmouth VA. He dedicated the four corners of High and Court Streets for a church, a market, a courthouse, and a jail.
Captain William Carver, a populist leader who participated in Bacon’s Rebellion, was hanged in 1676 for opposing autocratic government after a failed attempt to capture the Governor, Sir William Berkeley. Carver’s second patent was dated 15 September 1664, eight years before his hanging.
John Wood, a shipbuilder, petitioned King James for a land grant. Beginning of regional land grants and settlement as a plantation community.