I’ve loved being home but have to admit I’ve suffered from wanderlust since I was a child. I’ve always loved maps and planning a trip almost as much as going on one. Since the places we are allowed to go are shrinking I wanted to go SOMEWHERE before I could go no where. BTW I write these blog posts as a kind of visual diary for myself. Once a year I print it into a book form. I make it public because friends have told me they like reading it and get ideas of where they might want to go next.
My friend Irene and I arrived in Norfolk and were armed with lots of masks, hand sanitizer, and we wiped the hotel room down the moment we walked in. There were NO people on the street at 2 in the afternoon. The people we did see were all wearing masks. We stayed at the Glass Light Hotel, which is decorated with blown glass, in a landmark building that has been renovated making all the rooms very contemporary. It’s beautiful.
Every floor has a signature pies of glass as you exit the elevator and our room even had a little glass carrot laying on the desk. They are going to have a glass gallery next door eventually.
The building, The Royster Building, was constructed CA. 1911–1912, Ferguson as the headquarters of the RoysterGuano Fertilizer Company. It’s 13 storeies and was once Norfolk’s tallest building.
While a lot of shops were closed we found a great independent bookstore called Prince just around the corner from our hotel and we met an artist, Derek Shaw, who makes leather wallets and beautiful his partner cousin Aaron McLellan canvase and leather bags. They have their shop in the Selden Market.
The Selden Market is an innovative space for entrepreneurs to develop new street-level business ideas. The market provides a low-risk environment with short-term leases, a supportive development program, and a community atmosphere that fosters learning and growth.
The market is comprised of 12 retail spaces, 7 pop-up booths, multiple lounges and seating areas, and even a shared kitchen. What a fabulous idea!
The bag from my purchase at Prince….
It reads
Shopping locally preserves the character and vitality of the community , strengthens our local economy and makes this a better place to lives.
Local business owners care deeply about the well being of our community
Money spent locally stays local.
Local business owners are your friends and neighbors. They make buying decisions based on local tastes and interests.
They care deeply about the wellbeing of the local community, the vibrancy of our downtown, and the health of the local schools.
Local business owners have a vested interest in the community, they live, work, and pay taxes here.
Shopping locally reduces energy consumption and cost. It is good for the environment.
Locally owned businesses and retail stores, and restaurants, help to make our town unique. Support them!
By supporting local businesses you help to sustain our community.
The Chrysler Museum had a Munch display and we saw one of his original Scream Lithographs. I guess I forgot what I learned about him in art history class so this was a good refresher. He had emotional and psychological trauma throughout his life which contributed to the dark nature of his work.
A $4 ferry ride across the river was a nice break from the heat and gave us a good look at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard.
The Neon District has a lot of murals…….
I can’t believe it’s so close but have never been to the Norfolk Botanical Gardens before. I’m big on them and have visited dozens. Two special exhibits they had were the flamingos……70 scattered around the garden…
… and handmade paper art by Caroline Hardy.
My favorite flower I saw were the lotus. They were so perfect.
Back downtown we sought out the Pagoda and Koi Pond Park which was just a short way from our hotel in the Freeman District which is a beautiful neighborhood. The Marine Observation Tower also known as the Taiwanese Pagoda is the centerpiece for the tranquil garden. The tower was a 1989 gift to the Commonwealth of Virginia and the City of Norfolk honoring Taiwan’s trading ties with Virginia. The two-story pagoda, with Chinese architectural details and ornamentation, sits on the concrete foundation of an old molasses tank. The Pagoda is the centerpiece of the Oriental Garden. This unique building provides a panoramic view of the beautiful Oriental Garden, the USS Wisconsin, sunsets over the Elizabeth River, and is a beautiful venue for weddings, receptions, and other events.
We ate dinner out twice, one great, one not so much. The hotel has it’s own French restaurant, we didn’t eat there for dinner but did eat breakfast, and it was great. There is an Irish pub Grace O’Malley’s Irish Pub & Restaurant next door, they got an A for masks and social distancing but the food was just ok.
But the 2nd night dinner at Freemason Abbey Restaurant a few blocks away was great. It’s located in a 147 year-old renovated church. One thing they are famous for is their She Crab Soup and it WAS tasty. They have a wide variety on their menu.
Just before we left we walked around the Downtown. Most of the buildings are new but here and there you’ll find a glimpse of the architecture that must have filled the area. We went to the visitors center and saw an interesting display about General MacArthur . Both he and his wife are buried here too, Norfolk was the hometown of his mother.
And of course we saw dozens of the mermaid sculptures, Equivalent to our bears.
We rode up to Yorktown just to check it out. They have a nice beach on the York River and it was packed. The town is most famous as the site of the siege and subsequent surrender of General Charles Cornwallis to General George Washington and the French Fleet during the American Revolutionary War on October 19, 1781. Although the war would last for another year, this British defeat at Yorktown effectively ended the war.
On the right is the Victory Monument, the cornerstone was laid in 1881. It was struck by lightening in 2018 and had extensive damage which has been repaired. It is 84 ft tall.
I always stop at the Dismal Swamp Canal State Park, and remembered when boats still used it. The Dismal Swamp Canal is located along the eastern edge of the Great Dismal Swamp at the Virginia/North Carolina line. It is the oldest continually operating man-made canal in the United States, opened in 1805. And part of the Intracoastal Waterway.
In May 1763 George Washington made his first visit to the Great Dismal Swamp and suggested draining it and digging a north–south canal through it to connect the waters of the Chesapeake Bay and the Albemarle Sound.
Work was started in 1793. The canal was dug completely by hand; most of the labor was done by slaves hired from nearby landowners. It took approximately 12 years of back-breaking construction under highly unfavorable conditions to complete the 22-mile long waterway, which opened in 1805.
And on the way home stopped and had a picnic at Merchants Millpond State Park. Here are a few pictures I took the last time I paddled there. It is an enchanting and eerie place.
Settlement in the area began in 1660. Residents of early rural communities made a living by farming and lumbering. In the early 1700s, Hunters Millpond was built at the head of Bennetts Creek to provide a means of processing and marketing regional produce. Highway construction destroyed this millpond in 1922. But further downstream, Norfleets Millpond, which was built in 1811, thrived. Gristmills, a sawmill, a farm supply store and other enterprises made the area the center of trade in Gates County. Thus, the pond became known as Merchants Millpond.
Shortly before World War II operations around the millpond came to a halt and millers sold the land to developers. In the 1960s, A.B. Coleman of Moyock purchased the property and later donated 919 acres, including the millpond, to the state. His generous donation led to the establishment of Merchants Millpond State Park in 1973. In the same year, the Nature Conservancy contributed an additional 925 acres of woodlands to the park that now encompasses more than 3,250 acres.
You could easily get lost paddling around but the park has a set of buoys of different colors to help prevent getting lost in the “maze” of the swamp.
We took the back roads as far as we could on the way home, checking out roads we’d never been on. We saw LOTS of horses….
…. and the cutest herd of 7 goats gathered by the side of the road. They took off before we could get a good photo of them…. the end.
The 3 day trip will last me a couple weeks. Next I think I’m taking my RV and bike and go check out Floyd, VA, then continue on to Damacus, VA and ride the Virginia Creeper trail. Travel makes my life so much richer. I learn alot, I get new ideas for my artwork, and it gives me confidence that I can handle whatever comes my way because the best laid plans don’t always work out.