Norfolk, 17th Century
1607 -- Three English ships landed at Cape Henry. After giving thanks
fortheir safe passage to
the New World, the colonists proceeded up the river
to establish Jamestown,
the first permanent English settlement in America.
1610 - Hampton Roads
named to honor Henry Wriothesly, Earl of Southampton
and Treasurer of the
Virginia Company in London
1613 - tobacco is introduced
to the colony and becomes the center of colonial
economy. It was the dominant crop in what would become Princess
Anne County through the
1680s.
1622 - 200 acres of
land now occupied by the City of Norfolk was owned by
Lewis Vandermill, who
in the same year sold it to Nicholas Wise, senior,
shipwright.
1624 -- Thomas Willoughby
granted 500 acres by King James I (present-day Ocean
View).
1634 - Virginia consisted
of 8 shires, or counties, with a total population
of approximately 5000
inhabitants. The area that comprises the present cities
of Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake and Hampton was
part of Elizabeth City
Shire.
1636 - William Willoughby
granted 200 acres by King Charles I (present-day downtown
Norfolk).
1636 - Ferry service begins across
the Elizabeth River
In 1642, Upper Norfolk Co. became Nansemond
Co., now the city of Suffolk.
In 1691 Lower Norfolk
County was divided to form Norfolk County and Princess
Anne County.
1637 - first court
for Lower Norfolk County meets. For 25 years, the court
met in private homes.
1640 - Elizabeth River
Parish completed (site of present Norfolk Naval Station)
1661 - Lower Norfolk
County builds its first courthouse on Broad Creek,
which was replaced in
1689 by 2 courthouses, one on the Elizabeth River and
the other on the eastern
portion of Lynnhaven River, on the southern end of
Great Neck.
1673 - Half Moon Fort
built at Four Farthing Point (now Town Point) in Norfolk.
1680 -- The Virginia
House of Burgesses orders each Virginia county to
purchase 50 acres of
land, to be laid out for a town and storehouses. By
an Act of Assembly the
purchase of 50 acres was authorized for the Town of
Norfolk, the purchase
price being 10,000 pounds of tobacco. In 1682, in
pursuance to the act,
land was purchased from trustees of Nicholas Wise, a
house carpenter and son
of the elder Wise. The deed was recorded and Norfolk
Towne was established on the area now bounded by City Hall Avenue
on the north, the Elizabeth
River on the south and west, and the Norfolk and
Western Railroad tracks on the east.
1691 - Norfolk County formed from western
Lower Norfolk County.
1698 - First church
in Norfolk built on Church Street (site is in churchyard
of present St. Paul's)
> 18th Century
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