Guided Discovery: Norfolk Adventures - Days 245 to 248

Norfolk (population 243,000) was terrific. We arrived on Friday (6/3) and berthed at the Waterside (their municipal) Marina. It sits right on the city's waterfront with a spectacular view of the Elizabeth River and Portsmouth which is just across the river.

Right next door is the Half Moone Cruise and Celebration Center and the Nauticus complex which houses the Hampton Roads Museum and the Battleship Wisconsin.

Carnival Glory berthed at the Half Moone Cruise and Celebration Center

Nauticus Center - It's big

Nauticus and Battleship Wisconsin from water

Norfolk is a lovely walking city. We spent hours exploring. Here are a few photos:

Granby Street, Norfolk's historic business district

Bow of the Battleship Wisconsin

American Rover berthed at Waterside Marina. Portsmouth in the background

General Douglas MacArthur Memorial

During our visit we visited the MacArthur Memorial, Took a Naval Base Cruise, visited St Paul's church and took a historical walking tour.

General Douglas MacArthur chose Norfolk for his memorial. The complex consists of four buildings and houses the tombs of the General and his wife (Jean Faircloth MacArthur). The memorial building houses nine galleries that take you through the General's life. The theatre features an excellent 25 minute film that overview's the General's life and career.

Statue of General Douglas MacArthur

MacArthur's "resume"

Gallery 5 contains a replica of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender and film of the surrender ceremony that MacArthur chaired.

Gallery 7 deals with the Korean War and MacArthur's firing by President Truman. The photo below contrasts MacArthur's viewpoint of Congress' support of the war and Truman's viewpoint of why MacArthur needed to be relieved. Note: I read David Halberstam's "The Coldest Winter" which chronicles the Korean War. MacArthur comes off very poorly in Halberstam's account.

Note the images of MacArthur and Truman in the background

On Sunday, I took a two hour cruise on the Victory Rover to the Norfolk Naval Base that sits at the mouth of the Elizabeth River. The cruise included the ports of Norfolk and Portsmouth. The Naval Base was spectacular. Photos below of three significant ships.

USS New York containing steel from the World Trade Center

USS Cole damaged by a terrorist attack in Yemen that killed 17 and injured 39

USS Kearsarge Wasp Class Amphibious Assault Craft

Norfolk has the one of the largest container ports in the US. Actually, there are four separate container ports each with at least eight cranes. Very impressive.

Container port

Another interesting sight. The photos below are of a large dredge. Nothing unusual about a dredge as we saw quite a few of the rivers. What's unique about this situation is the pipes in the second photo. These pipes lead north, go under the river, and travel for 4 miles where they rise again to create a man made island that is itself one mile long.

Dredge

Pipes leading away from dredge to man made island (4 miles north)

On January 1, 1776 (7 months before the Declaration of Independence), Colonial Governor, Lord Dunmore's ships shelled Norfolk and ultimately destroyed the town. The shell embedded in the walls of St Paul's Church was fired by Lord Dunmore.

St Paul's graveyard with graves dating back to before the Revolutionary War

On Monday, we took a 90 minute guided walking tour through the historical district. Despite walking these streets several times and paying attention to the historical markers we discovered a bunch a new stuff. Here are a few highlights.

The Norfolk war memorial is unique. Essentially a small park with bronzed soldier's letters scattered as if by the winds from every war under an American Flag. Very moving.