Hampton Roads Reminds me of "the Movies"

posted by Ardys

Fishing pier in front of Fort Monroe.  Looking across the water at Norfolk.  

The Chesapeake was behind us at last, the Atlantic beneath us and the pathway to the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) was to starboard, through Hampton Road, Norfolk and then on south.  We motored out of the Atlantic and entered our planned anchorage in a rather protected U-shaped area of water just north of Norfolk, called Phoebus.  The historic naval fort, Fort Monroe lay on one side of us on a peninsula and a very busy, long, low bridge that terminated at a tiny island out on the water lay on the other side.  Oddly, all the cars on the bridge simply disappeared when they reached the island but somehow other cars kept coming away from that tiny island!  If you’ve never seen the entrance to an underwater tunnel from the water before, that is exactly what it looks like.  Alice in Wonderland Through the Looking Glass came to mind.

Dinghy dock by the "DeadRise Restaurant" at Marina.  

Blustery and overcast while anchoring, we figured we’d made it off the open water just in time.  The term, “hunkering down for the night” comes to mind when I think of that anchorage, AFTER of course, bringing Jax to land, which was achieved by finding a tiny dinghy dock at the foot of the DeadRise Restaurant.  Sadly, they would not allow us to sit and have a drink on their deserted deck over the water with a dog in tow.  First time I’ve been refused when I’ve asked about outdoor seating.  "We’re not in Kansas Annapolis anymore." 

Sequel to "The Birds?"

An aside here—On the dinghy ride back to the boat, we were struck by how huge the gulls were here, and how they all sat facing the same direction (toward us) the entire length of the marina wall (~200 yards) until we exited the marina.   Other birds on the wall were more skittish and flew away as we approached, but not the gulls.  They were like solemn, humorless sentries on the wall.  Took me back to a particular drive-in movie theatre in my childhood—“The Birds.”  The birds were entirely too unafraid of us, and just watching...... watching.  Creepy.

Moat encircles Fort Monroe.  Military families still use the fort for housing. 

On Sunday morning, the three of us enjoyed a long leisurely walk along the boardwalk in front of the Fort, and throughout the Fort, reading all the plaques which describe the historically significant events that took place on that piece of earth.  I remember learning absolutely nothing about Fort Monroe from my American History studies in high school and college.  Nada.  Was I there that day?  The site on which Fort Monroe sits was the landing site of the first Africans brought to Virginia in 1619, stolen from a Portuguese slave trader ship.  The fort is also significant in African American history because the Fort was the only Southern fort that was held by the North during the Civil War.  It became known as the “Freedom Fort” because any African Americans that made it to the fort were free.  Two of the few units comprised entirely of black soldiers was mustered at Fort Monroe.  If you haven’t seen the movie, “Glory,” I highly recommend it.

President Lindon stayed at the Fort for a few days during the Civil War.   A young Lieutenant Robert E. Lee was involved in designing the fort. and the Confederacy’s president, Jefferson Davis was imprisoned there through the end of the Civil War.  Fort Monroe is very large in comparison to the other two forts that we visited this year—Fort McHenry in Baltimore known for being the place where Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star Spangled Banner” during the War of 1812.  (He watched the bombardment of the Fort by the British warships from the deck of a ship in the bay and it was unknown until sunrise whether the Fort was still held by the Americans.)  The other fort was Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine, FL the first fort built on this continent (1572) along with the first town of white inhabitants on this continent.  

That night, we went to the DeadRise, a restaurant above the Marina office.  (By the way, a DeadRise is a type of boat, very pointy and narrow at the bow, with a wide flat back end and a little pilot house on the front end.  Favored by oystermen).  I found my favorite quote from this journey thus far engraved on a wall in the DeadRise.  “The cure for everything is saltwater—sweat, tears and the sea.”  Ah, yes.