THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 8, 1995 TAG: 9512070143
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY PHYLLIS SPEIDELL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 158 lines
RED, WHITE AND BLUE hot air balloons ascend into the sky advertising new homes in Norfolk County. Music and laughter drift through the night from the resort piers of Port Norfolk. And torches light up the night sky during political rallies on the West Norfolk waterfront.
These scenes of Portsmouth just over 100 years ago have come to life again in ``Bed of Honor,'' Alf J. Mapp Jr.'s newest book and first novel.
Mapp, a Portsmouth native and award-winning author, is an Eminent Scholar emeritus from Old Dominion University where he taught history, English, journalism and creative writing.
He has published six other books, histories and biographies, and has had two of them chosen as Book of the Month Club featured selections.
Why a novel this time?
``I thought it would be interesting to have a departure, but this is not a total departure,'' Mapp said. ``The book has a historical setting that is meticulously accurate.''
Egrets swoop gracefully over the Western Branch of the Elizabeth River and steam engines lumber their way through downtown Portsmouth to the waterfront - just a few of the glimpses of local color incorporated into a story rich with drama, romance and passion.
Mapp said that while he created the story's imaginary major characters he took no liberties with the actual historical figures that play minor roles in ``Bed of Honor.''
``They are doing things that they did in real life,'' he said.
The story begins with Robert E. Lee's 1870 postwar visit to Portsmouth and its impact on a young boy named Thomas Trent Jr., the novel's central character.
Following Trent's life and loves, Mapp carries the reader through the next five decades, bringing to life the 19th century bustling business centers of Portsmouth and Norfolk, the farms of Great Bridge, the oyster shell paved streets of Williamsburg and the legislative halls of Richmond.
``I have always adhered to the idea that a fiction writer generally does best writing of things he knows about,'' Mapp said. ``So I thought I would start out with a setting I knew, yet it would be more interesting to me if I did not reproduce things just as they are, but could envision them as they had been.''
The Trent family home, the Oaks, has been set on the banks of the Western Branch of the Elizabeth River in Norfolk County, the same setting where Mapp and his wife, Ramona, built their Georgian colonial in 1977.
Norfolk County no longer exists and the Mapp property is now part of Portsmouth's Sterling Point neighborhood.
Mapp took only a few literary liberties in differentiating the Trent home from his own, moving a wing here and there, but retaining the home's basic architecture and surrounding grounds.
Well known as a local historian, Mapp comfortably moves his characters around the Portsmouth of the late 1800s. He visits Trent's law offices near the corner of High and Crawford streets and the Sunday services at Monumental Methodist and Churchland Baptist churches.
He takes the reader to trials in the 1846 Courthouse and to dinners at the old Ocean House restaurant that once stood on the current site of the Tidewater Community College's Visual Arts Center.
``There are details that are there for atmosphere, but not for that alone,'' Mapp said. ``They also move the story along because I like everything that happens in a novel in some way to contribute to the conclusion.''
The novel's story line expands briefly into New Orleans, New York, Texas and the capitals of Europe as Trent finishes his education, marries and becomes established as a state legislator with a national reputation.
``I tried to show what was happening in the South in that period between the Civil War and World War I,'' Mapp said. ``I had the upper South in mind with Virginia, the lower South in mind with New Orleans, and tried to get in some idea of trends and developments in the nation as a whole.
``I thought it would be nice if somebody could read it, enjoy the fiction, and learn something,'' he added.
Mapp selected the second half of the 19th century as the time frame for ``Bed of Honor'' because it was an exciting time in history, but not one that has been overwritten.
He writes about the first automobiles, electric lights, telephones and the first successful manned flight by the Wright Brothers.
Mapp wove the era's progress into his story, frequently with a light touch of humor.
When Trent sets out in his shiny new horseless carriage, he's so busy waving to pedestrians he nearly sidewipes the Confederate monument on Court Street.
Mapp's love and respect for the Hampton Roads area is apparent throughout the novel. A 13th generation native of the area, he reached back into his family history for at least one of his minor characters - his grandfather Stephen B. Carney.
Carney, who in the book becomes a liaison between Trent and Theodore Roosevelt, was actually Roosevelt's friend as well as Norfolk's postmaster and an active political figure in Norfolk County. ILLUSTRATION: [Cover, Color photo]
TIME TRAVEL
ON THE COVER
The picture of Alf Mapp Jr. at his home in Portsmouth that appears
on the cover was taken by staff photographer Mark Mitchell.
Henry and I went back to my office to talk about the practice,
then to lunch at the Ocean House. Afterward, I showed him the
courthouse, took him through Trinity Church, introduced him to
lawyers and merchants, and strolled with him along Court, Middle,
North and Crawford streets. . . .
- From ``Bed of Honor''
That evening at dinner he said, ``Elizabeth, you'll love the
residential streets downtown. There are attractive homes from the
pre-Revolutionary era as well as some really handsome townhouses
from the early part of this century. And you'll delight in the ones
near the water with the high basement and the outside stairs to the
first floor just like the houses in Bristol.''
- From ``Bed of Honor''
LOCAL BOOK SIGNINGS
Although ``Bed of Honor'' will not be released nationally until
after the first of the year, several local book signings will bring
the novel here beginning this weekend.
Locations are:
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum - 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday. Includes
a brief talk by Mapp at 2 p.m. The museum is located at 2 High St.
Prince Books - noon to 2 p.m. Tuesday. Includes brief talk by
Mapp at noon. The book store is at 109 E. Main St. in Norfolk.
Old Dominion University Bookstore - 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday
The bookstore is in Webb Center on the Norfolk campus.
Pfeiffer's Books - 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Dec. 16. The store is at
434 High St. in Portsmouth.
Turn the Page - 2 to 4 p.m. Dec. 16. The store is at 1701 Colley
Ave. in Norfolk.
The book sells for $22.95.
Staff photos by MARK MITCHELL
The old courthouse is mentioned in Alf Mapp's novel about
Portsmouth.
Staff photos by MARK MITCHELL
The townhomes in Olde Towne are described in ``Bed of Honor.'' The
story takes place in the second half of the 19th century.
This photograph is from the same period in Portsmouth's history as
the setting in Mapp's book.
Staff photos by MARK MITCHELL
In ``Bed of Honor,'' Mapp takes his readers to Sunday services at
Monumental Methodist Church as he moves his characters around
Portsmouth.
Policemen in Portsmouth 100 years ago wore hats like this.
ABOVE: Alice Haines, director of the Naval Shipyard Museum, has
organized a book-signing event for Dec. 10.
AT LEFT: Alf Mapp visits the cemetery at Trinity Church, one of the
sites in his story of Thomas Trent Jr., the novel's central
character.
by CNB