DATE: Monday, March 31, 1997                TAG: 9703290596

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

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THAT WAS THEN: WHERE AN AMPHIBIOUS INVASION WAS PLANNED

The Spanish-style Nansemond Hotel at Ocean View was once the finest

hostelry at Norfolk's Chesapeake Bay resort. The 115-room hotel

opened June 23, 1928, and was described as ``palatial.'' Of primary

historic importance is the fact that the Nansemond was used in 1942

as Adm. H. Kent Hewitt's headquarters for planning the World War II

amphibious landing in North Africa. Gen. George S. Patton visited

the Nansemond during the planning for the Nov. 1942 invasion.

Burned in a spectacular fire on Nov. 21, 1980, the hotel site is

now being used for the construction of three houses that will add

distinction to the new Ocean View.

- George Tucker

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