THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 9, 1996 TAG: 9606070540
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: GEORGE TUCKER
LENGTH: 69 lines
It's a safe bet that most of the pleasure-seekers who enjoy the grassy expanse of Town Point Park in downtown Norfolk at Harborfest this weekend are unaware of the earlier history connected with the increasingly popular spot. So it might be a good idea to highlight a few significant facts concerning the area extending westward from Granby Street to the Elizabeth River.
The first owner of the property, then known as Four Farthing Point for some now unknown reason, was Capt. Thomas Willoughby who acquired it in February 1637. Willoughby sold the site in 1644 to Thomas Watkins, after which it passed into the possession of a series of owners until 1663, when it became the property of Nicholas Wise Sr., a shipwright. Wise's son, also named Nicholas, deeded the point, along with adjoining acreage, to the trustees of Lower Norfolk County in 1682, two years after the locale had been chosen as the site of ``Norfolk Towne'' by the Virginia Assembly in June 1680.
Before that took place, the point was the location of a ``Half Moone'' fort also authorized by the Assembly in 1667 to protect the area's tobacco planters from Dutch marauders. All traces of this early fort have long since disappeared. But as late as 1781, when the British occupied the Norfolk area during the Revolutionary War, professional soldiers of Great Britain erected another temporary fort on the same site to protect the inner Norfolk harbor.
Space does not permit a detailed listing of all of the historical events connected with Town Point, but a few should be emphasized. Not only was Norfolk's first U.S. Custom House built there during the last years of the 18th century, the area was also used as a setting for festivities honoring the ratification of the U.S. Constitution in June 1787. According to one account: ``At Town Point a repast had been set in the open, and here the people regaled themselves while the caterer, Mr. Smith of the Borough Tavern under the assumed character of Old Will Boniface, flitted from table to table. Speeches, toasts, and songs followed, after which a bonfire of ten barrels of pitch was set off.''
Over the centuries Town Point also has witnessed many important naval actions. In August 1838, people crowded there to observe the departure of the first national exploring expedition authorized under a special act of Congress, known as the Wilkes Expedition, when it left Norfolk for a four-year cruise to survey and chart areas in the Pacific Ocean and South Sea, particularly those most frequented by American whaling vessels. Four years later equally enthusiastic crowds converged on the Point to cheer Commodore Matthew G. Perry when he left Norfolk on the frigate Mississippi, the nucleus of the ``Japan Squadron'' that resulted in the opening of the ports of Japan in 1844.
Still later, in 1862, loyal Southerners crowded every available space at the Point when the CSS Virginia (the former USS Merrimack) steamed down the Elizabeth River from Gosport Navy Yard for her first encounter with the Federal blockading fleet in Hampton Roads. On May 27, 1898, Town Point also became one of the principal grandstand seats for the thousands who turned out to witness the triumphal arrival of the Spanish cruiser Reina Mercedes, the only ship of any size that survived the destruction of the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Santiago Bay during the Spanish-American War.
Meanwhile, the once open spaces of Town Point became increasingly crowded with business and shipping establishments. Notable among these was the Western Union Telegraph Co., with its fleet of bicycles parked outside on which boys wearing knickers and butcherboy caps delivered messages in yellow paper envelopes all over the city. And to end on a nostalgic note, Town Point was also the longtime headquarters of the Baltimore Steam Packet Co., from whose piers, as all will recall, the Old Bay Line steamers departed and returned regularly from their leisurely trips up and down the Chesapeake Bay.
Now all of that is ancient history. Even so, when I take an occasional stroll around Town Point Park on a sunny day I like to recall the rhythmic chants the stevedores sang as they loaded or unloaded the stately steamers. Also, the announcement ``All ashore who's goin' ashore'' that was always made over the loudspeaker systems just before the ships began their all night journeys up the bay still echoes fondly in my memory. by CNB