DATE: Monday, August 18, 1997               TAG: 9708150895

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

                                            LENGTH:   25 lines

PORTSMOUTH'S HIGH STREET - THEN AND NOW

1997 BELOW: MARK MITCHELL/THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT

This provocative panorama provides a pleasing contrast between the

old and the new. In the top photo, the photographer evinced a sense

of history when he juxtaposed a large framed picture of the former

Portsmouth ferry terminal that had occupied the site with the same

locale featured in this 1968 photograph. The old ferry terminal was

a handsome example of early 20th century architecture and was torn

down after the ferries stopped operating in 1955. An almost

duplicate ferry terminal occupied the south end of Commercial Place

in Norfolk. Easily recognized in the 1968 photograph are the

Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum in the left foreground, the soaring

23-story NationsBank Center on the other side of the Elizabeth River

where the Norfolk ferry terminal once stood, and the Berkley

waterfront with a fleeting glimpse of the Berkley Bridge. In the

bottom photo, the same scene as it looks today.

- George Tucker

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu