The Penn's Grove record., 1907-04-26
A History OF Norfolk, Va.
OF Great Interest To Those Who VIII
Visit The jamestown Exposition.
BY EDNA CASEY LYNNE

WISH Inc jamestown EXpOSitiVH.
BY EDNA CASEY LYNNE
Several of our mutual acquaintance
want to know "what-fer" place is
Norfolk, so with your permission.
I'll give them an idea of the GO
lonial City" That is the name it will re-
ceive from the Jamestown Exposition
Company. In view of the fact that all
who can are planning to visit the James
town Exposition, will be interested in
the city OF Norfolk not only as it is now,
but as it was, | am going to give, first a
brief history of Norfolk, down-to-date,
then a description of the city as it
now is. !
The first white men known to have
visited the site of Norfolk were members
of an expedition sent to America in 1855,
by Sir Walter Raleigh. Led by Ralph
Lane they were brought over in seven
armed ship commanded by Sir. Richard
Granville. They made extensive ex-
plorations, after landing at Roanoke Is
land, North Carolina. Going as far
north as the Chesapeake Bay they found
a settlement of Indians on what is now
known as the Elizabeth River. Lane
quickly recognized the fitness Of this
Chesapeake country for colonization, and
pronounced it.: better for that purpose
than the country he had just left.
Norfolk Town. was founded Aug. IT.,
1852, in accordance with an Act passed
by the General Assembly OF Virginia es-
tablishing a score of stations for the re-
ceipt, storage and sale of tobacco, at that
time the currency of the colony. Nor
folk is one of the few towns created
under this act, that are still in existence.
Its location, by terms of the law, was to
be Gin lower Norfolk County on Nicholas
Wise his land, on the eastern Branch on
the Elizabeth River, at the entrance OF
the Branch" Wise, a shipwright, was
given $1,000 pounds of tobacco in pay
ment for the fifty acres compromising
the original territory OF the town. The
first, or among the first to build on this
territory were Thomas Nash and Thom-
| as Wake, ancestors OF we'll known local
families.
A stockade was built to protect the
town from Indian attacks, but there Is
no record of any serious trouble with the
| Indians. The new settlement soon had
"a good trade with the West Indies, and
Colonel Byrd who surveyed the bound
ary line between North Carolina and
Virginia, in 1928 said, 1.-The two cardinal
virtues that make a place thrive,-in-
dustry and frugality,- are seen here i'll
perfection"
Norfolk Towne'' became a borough OF
September Is, 1876, by Letters Patent
granted by George Ii OF England. Sam
uel Bousch was tile first Mayor and Sir.
John Randolph was its first Recorder.
Boush, dying within two months, was
succeeded by George Newton.
Norfolk" as "she was'| presented a
very different aspect geographically
from the corresponding districts to-day.
The "almost island" on which the
borough was built was dissected by num-
erous creeks and meandering inlets.
Some of the most thickly settled posi-
tions of the most thickly settled portious
OF the city are where Norfolk's fore
fathers used to go swimming. In the
older section OF the city, the streets are
so crooked as to lead a stranger to be-
lieve that the persons who laid them
out were on a ''swearing-off Jag" Not
so. The street had to be bent as the in
let's were inclined. The city's early
associations are revealed by the names of
the streets; as Butte, Yorke, Charlotte,
Botetourt, CRANKY (for the celebrated
Marquis), Yarmouth, Dartmouth, Dun
more. etc. Thru the narrow neck of land
which kept Norfolk from being an is
land ran a road which is now Church
Street. Bermuda Street wa the aris-
t~ociatic center of the Borough, and in
in that and the adjacent
| streets dwelt such prominent fami-
lies as the Boushes, Taylors, Reileys,
fuckers, Wakes, Cornicks, Keelings,
Seldons, Newtons, Smiths, Woodhouses,
Butts, Cookies, Whiteheads, and Will
ons
Because OF the growth of the borough,
the general assembly passed an act in
aries. These limits remained unchanged
for 1875 years.
The borough was making rapid pro-
gress at the outbreak of the Revolution
airy War. Its people were at the front in
patriotism. AT a mass meeting held
during the year following the passage OF
the Stamp Act by Parliament, the citi-
zens OF the borough condemned the tyr
amy of the British Crown. 1t was at
this time that the society called 1.-THE
Sons OF Liberty" was organized. Nor
folk furnished a goodly portion of SOL
diers to the Revolutionary armies, a
quaint details being that the Methodist
and Baptist volunteers would not serve
in. the same regiments. Soon after the
beginning of the war, Lord Dunmore,
the oppressive Governor of the Colonies,
enraged by the defeat of the British at
Great Bridge, bombarded Norfolk from
the frigate Liverpool" on which he
had taken refuge. The "Virginia Gaz-
cite" had just said of Norfolk: ut is
the most f%ourishing and richest town in
the colony. Its population exceeds
5000 citizens, many of whom possess af-
fluent fortunes" During the lombard
ment almost every house in the town
was burned down. The only structure
of much account that was spared was
Old st. Paul's Church. Historians esti.
mate that more than 1900 buildings were
burned. Not mere than a dozen houses
remained, but the returning citizens
went to work so earnestly that by 1900
the annual exports had reached So, OOO.-
600 and the borough had four busy ship
yards. 1t is a remarkable fact that,
though Norfolk was founded on a ship
wrights land, was identified with ship
building for nearly two centuries, and
presents and ideal location for ship.
YARDS, there Is no private ship
building plant at the modern port. The
local event of 1901, was the establish
ment OF the Government Navy Yard at
Gosport on the Portsmouth side of the
river. This yard has ever since been
one of the leading naval stations of the
country, and has contributed immensely
to the prosperity of the surrounding COM
munities.
Between 1890 and 1900 appeared the
first newspaper, of the borough, which
has from that time been fertile typhogra.
phical soil. However, of the twenty or
thirty newspapers published here at
various periods before the Civil War. O
one survives.
An epidemic of yellow fever in 1904.
and the troubles with Great Britain over
that country's depredations upon Amer.
lean shipping worked immense injury
to commerce.
A creditable number of soldiers
and sailors from this section of V;ro;n;o