Historic Map - Norfolk & Portsmouth, VA - 1873

Norfolk & Portsmouth, Virginia 1873. Drawn and published by C. N. Drie.

Reproduction perspective map of Norfolk and Portsmouth, Virginia, drawn and published by C. N. Drie in 1873. An area with a long colonial history, the newly formed Norfolk County, which includes present day Norfolk, Chesapeake and parts of Portsmouth, was named for Norfolk, England, the birthplace of Adam Thoroughgood, an indentured servant who arrived in the colonies in 1622. Once Thoroughgood had earned his freedom, he became a leading citizen of the colony and was granted a large land holding along the Lynnhaven River in 1636, where he convinced more than a hundred people to settle. The city was granted a royal charter as a borough by King George II in 1736.

Norfolk became what was considered the most prosperous city in Virginia and served as a strong Loyalist support base during the American Revolution. Lord Dunmore, the Royal Governor of Virginia was forced to flee Norfolk in 1775 under pressure from the revolutionary forces. In 1776, on New Year's Day, Lord Dunmore returned with a fleet of three ships that bombarded the city for over eight hours. Over 800 buildings were destroyed and the patriots destroyed the remaining buildings to prevent them from being retaken by the British

Norfolk was witness to the first battle between ironclad naval boats in the spring of 1862, when the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia fought the Battle of Hampton Roads off the northwest shore of the city's Sewell Point Peninsula. The city was surrendered to the Union forces in May, 1862 and remained under martial law for the duration of the war. This map captures the city as it appeared just eight years after the Civil War ended.

Features references to the following locations:

PUBLIC BUILDINGS OF PORTSMOUTH.

1. City Hall.
2. Marine Hospital.
3. Market House.
4. Jail.

CHURCHES OF PORTSMOUTH.

5. Trinity Church.
6. Catholic Church.
7. Presbyterian Church.
8. Baptist Church.
9. St. Johns Church.
10. Central Methodist Church.
11. Methodist Church (Dinwiddie).
12. Methodist Church (Colored).
13. Zion Baptist Church.

MISCELLANEOUS.

14. Market Place.
15. Gas Works.
16. Masonic Lodge.
17. Engine Houses.
18. Cemetery.
19. Seaboard Railroad Depot.
20. Chatham Railroad Depot.
21. Collegiate Institute.

HOTELS OF PORTSMOUTH.

22. Ocean House.
23. Ocean House.

BERKLEY.

1. Berkley Court House.
2. Hotel (Berkley).
3. Filley's Saw Mill (Berkley).

NORFOLK.

1. Norfolk City Hall.
2. Norfolk Post Office and Custom House.
3. Station House.
4. Market House.
5. Poor House.
6. Public Schools.
7. Head Quarters Fire Department.

CHURCHES OF NORFOLK.

8. St. Mary's Cathedral.
9. Christ Church.
10. Baptist Church.
11. Methodist Church.
12. Presbyterian Church.
13. St. Paul, Episcopal Church.
14. Methodist Church.
15. Methodist Church.
16. Methodist Episcopal Church.
17. Baptist Church.
18. Baptist Church.
19. Baptist Church.
20. Synagogue.
21. Presbyterian Chapel.
22. St. James St. Chapel.
23. Christ Church.
24. Seamen's Bethel Church.
25. African M. E. Church.

MISCELLANEOUS.

26. Academy.
27. Opera House.
28. Masonic Temple.
29. St. Vincent de Paul Hospital.
30. Engine Houses.
31. Cemeteries.
32. St. Mary's Asylum.
33. St. Mary's School.
34. Pest House.

MANUFACTURING ESTABLISHMENTS.

36. Atlantic Works.
37. Gas Works.
38. Graves' ship Yard.
39. Virginia Iron Works.
40. Norfolk City Flour Mills.

HOTELS.

41. Atlantic Hotel.
42. National Hotel.
43. Mansion House.