Continued… From Adeline’s room, we moved into the part of the slaves quarters that was above the utility room. The signs said that the Myers had dozens of slaves over the decades, but didn’t say how many slaves the household typically had at any given time. The guides did tell us, but we don’t remember now. But we do remember they always had several, not only one or two. There was a big binder full of information that we didn’t read. Some of the displays on the walls were bills of sale for the various people. One display showed a bill of sale for a mother and daughter. In the bankruptcy inventory, they were identified as “washer and daughter.” John Myers did allow at least one of his slaves to purchase his freedom. We didn’t go into the portion of the slaves quarters over the kitchen.
View of the back yard from the slave’s quarters. What is now a parking garage was once a creek.Continue reading →
Our plan was to go to historic Ft. Norfolk. There was a marina barbecue from 1300 – 1500 that Eric went to, so we didn’t head out until 1500. When we entered the fort into the map app, it said it was closed on weekends. We decided to go sightseeing in historic downtown Norfolk, anyways, as there were plenty of other things to see. Even though we hadn’t entered the MacArthur Memorial as our destination, the map app sent us to the Memorial’s parking garage. At first we were confused, but then we realized the garage was for the general downtown area, not only the Memorial. Parking was free for the first two-hours, and it was inexpensive for additional time.
When we walked out of the parking garage, the first thing that caught our eye was a church across the street.
We later found out this church was built in 1850 and was designed by Thomas U. Walter, who designed the US Capitol dome. The original steeple toppled over in 1879 and was replaced in 1897. Continue reading →
On Saturday, we moved the boat to a different slip first thing in the morning, then mom’s friend picked us up and showed us around the area. Then we went back to their house and I talked to mom’s friend’s daughter about a video game. We borrowed their car, then went to a burrito place for dinner. Unfortunately, mom couldn’t eat anything. On Sunday, dad and I did some boat chores, then we went to a mini Comicon, which was fun, though it wasn’t as good as the real thing. After that, we went to the house of some of our friends from the Bahamas (Miss Roxy) and had dinner.
Continued… When the tour concluded, Eric and Keith announced they were hungry. They went to a nearby restaurant called The Deadrise, which was over at the marina.
The food was good and the portions were huge. Keith, who was not a seafood fan, loved the crab dip (even though it wasn’t as good as Haste Away’s).
It looked like the section of the marina closest to the restaurant was closed, as there weren’t any boats in the slips. We were too far away to get a look at the part of the marina that was occupied. There was an anchorage beyond the marina that was deep enough for Kosmos. Given that it was a holiday weekend, we were surprised there weren’t more boats anchored out there.
Christi stayed at the Visitor’s Center and went on the 1500 tour. It began much the same as the 1400 tour had. But instead of stopping at the entrance casement, the group walked on to the four-acre parade ground.
On Friday, July 4, Eric started the day by doing an inventory of spare parts we had onboard. He created a list of spare parts that we need to stock up on.
Karen had told us that Fort Monroe was having special events today. The events started at 0845 and ended with the biggest fireworks show in Virginia at 2115. We figured it was fitting to spend Independence Day at Fort Monroe since it was one of the most important locations in early American history and a pivotal part of winning the War of Independence. As the bird flies, the fort was on the southern tip of a peninsula just a little bit northeast of Morningstar marina, and to get there by car, we went through a tunnel under the James River.
The tip of the peninsula that Fort Monroe sat on was named Old Point Comfort. The king of England had authorized a colony to be established in Virginia, and Old Point Comfort was the first place the new settlers had stopped upon entering the Chesapeake Bay in 1607. They picked the name Poynt Comfort because it was a deepwater port that was safe for ships, and the local indigenous people were kind to the newcomers. The signs didn’t clarify when the “Old” was added to the name.
The settlers wanted to set up their new colony there, but the charter issued by the king had ordered them to go farther inland, so they set up Jamestown farther northeast. Two years later, the colonists realized that since the mouth of the Chesapeake was visible from Poynt Comfort, it was an important lookout point to watch for any Spaniards or Portuguese invaders, so they built a fort at Poynt Comfort.
As soon as we drove into the fort, we were struck by how it didn’t look at all like a modern military base. The bases we were used to seeing had blocky, utilitarian buildings. We passed dozens of charming old brick buildings. Most appeared to be residential buildings, and they looked occupied.
