THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 11, 1994 TAG: 9408090159
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Mike Knepler
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
Marian Fletcher of Gold Coast, Australia, walked miles before coming to downtown Norfolk.
Then she walked some more.
Fletcher is an aficionado of urban walking tours. Wherever she visits, she's ready for a stroll through local history.
``If you drive past, you get a view, but you don't really get to see,'' she said.
This vacation, she's getting the best of all worlds. She and husband Keith are on a four- to five-year world cruise on their 40-foot yacht.
Several days at sea, then head to the nearest port to see the sights. What better way than on a walking tour with a guide steeped in local history and architecture?
In Norfolk, Fletcher got first-class treatment - a one-on-one tour. No one else signed up. She was amazed.
``I'm used to having 20 people around me,'' all peppering the guide with questions, Fletcher said of programs in other historic cities.
Here, guide Stephanie Carcano never has had more than three people in a group.
Some reasons for sparse attendance are understandable. This is the first summer for ``Norfolk Afoot'' walking tours. Word may not have spread to many tourists and convention crowds.
But the tour is for locals, too, especially newcomers.
Maybe Norfolk and history do not equate. With rare exceptions, folks here give up when historic buildings face extinction.
New generations believe there aren't any historic buildings downtown. (They're there by the dozens.)
Then there's all this City Hall emphasis on building a showcase waterfront. Sure, Norfolk also has commissioned a history book, to be published this fall. Is that the only place the past belongs?
Also, there's a general waning of interest in humanities, exacerbated by our bottom-line driven society.
Norfolk's downtown tour compares well with those in other cities, said Fletcher, who has taken such walks since 1984. She was most impressed by the Moses Myers House, built in 1792, and the harbor.
She enjoyed Carcano's narration, a blend of old and new. It begins with Main Street being laid out in 1682 and includes buildings long gone, such as the notorious burlesque bars and tattoo parlors.
The tour provides a peep show of its own, a mention of the future MacArthur Center shopping mall.
Fletcher had her own observations of Norfolk.
Nowhere downtown can boaters buy fresh produce. ``Other yachtsmen tell me that they're comfortable here for a few days, but then they are going to go somewhere smaller where they can buy food,'' she said.
``Some of the nice cities I've been to actually have had the greengrocers and the basic shops along the waterfronts. They're very much alive places and vibrant. If you're going to have a vital area, you need to cater to all needs, not just have big department stores and exotica.''
Fletcher and her husband walked more than an hour to 21st Street for groceries, which they then carried in back packs.
That beats Madagascar, where the Fletchers traded several tins of fish and meat for poultry. Natives ferried the live chicken to them by canoe. ``I first thought we were getting another pet,'' Marian Fletcher still jokes.
Credit the Chrysler Museum's Department of Historic Houses for organizing the walking tour. Also applaud co-sponsors, the Hampton Roads Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and the Norfolk Waterside Marriott.
And thank you, visitors like Marian Fletcher. Hopefully, your enthusiasm will keep the tour going until more visitors discover it. MEMO: Comment or suggestion for Mike Knepler: call 446-2275 or write The
Compass, P.O. Box 449, Norfolk, Va. 23501.
ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by CHRISTOPHER REDDICK
Stephanie Carcano, right, leads Marian Fletcher of Gold Coast,
Australia, on a tour that includes the downtown MacArthur Memorial.
NORFOLK TOURS
``Norfolk Afoot'' tours are 9:30-11:30 a.m. Thursdays, through
Aug. 25. Meet in Norfolk Waterside Marriott. Call 664-6283. Price
$5. There are free brochures for self-guided tours.
by CNB