A picnic at St. Paul's Church

When I was a student at the Virginia Governor's School for the Arts, years ago, the churchyard at St. Paul's was one of my favorite places to go after rehearsal, to sit and read and go over lines and discuss all the gossip of the day with a classmate or two. Yesterday, Anouk and I took some friends -- and a picnic lunch -- to visit the mossy churchyard. A lot about the surrounding downtown Norfolk area has changed since I graduated in 1999, but St. Paul's itself is just the same as I remember it, comfortingly so.

An 18th-century church might not seem like the most exciting place for playgroup, but A. and her friends had a blast exploring. They ran up and down the brick pathways and even peeked inside the church, exclaiming over the massive pipe organ and the intricate stained-glass windows. Of course we visited the cannonball lodged in the church's south wall, a souvenir of the Battle of Great Bridge during the first days of the Revoluntionary War. (Little Zeke thought it had been fired by pirates, and was very interested to see it.) There was even a tiny playground, and the shady magnolia trees adjacent were the perfect spot to spread our picnic blankets and sit awhile.

St. Paul's is the only surviving colonial-era building in Norfolk, and unlike many of the other historical sites around the city, is still being put to its original use today. The parish at St. Paul's is vibrant and active, and as a result, the church is a bustle of activity throughout the day, people going in and out, tending the graves, and setting up for morning services. I like that -- it makes the church feel like a representation of the city itself, which has been through so much and is still standing. St. Paul's reminds me every time I visit of Norfolk's long and colorful history. The things the church has seen -- the Revolution, the Burning of Norfolk, the War of 1812, the Civil War and the Civil Rights Era! As we walked through the courtyard yesterday, I found myself wishing that those old stones could talk. Just think of all the things they'd have to say -- and I would sit right down and hang on every word.

Easter at Fort Monroe

We celebrated Easter with my extended family by going out to brunch at the historic Chamberlin Hotel -- a whole crowd of us, 22 people in all. Aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, the works. People you love + good food + chocolate bunnies and jellybeans for all = what's not to get excited about?

The Chamberlin is located on the grounds of Fort Monroe, in Hampton. Because the base was decommissioned in 2011, after we ate, we were able to walk around and explore everything. James, Anne and I set off down the seawall to Overlook Beach and took in the sights: the old fort, which replaced an earlier one built in 1609, the Civil War-era barracks and batteries surrounded by an imposing moat, and the tons of beautiful historic houses. Since the base is being partially reclassified for residential use, some of these old mansions are actually for sale! We spent a long time picking out our favorites -- I eventually chose one with sleek white columns for my dream house. I think I could even handle having to drive over the bridge-tunnel all the time if it meant I could live there.

But the most exciting part of the day by far was getting the chance to see a panoramic view of the base and bay. During brunch, I asked our maitre'd if there was a place I could go outside to take photos, and she kindly offered to take us up to the top of the hotel where we could see everything -- almost the entirety of the giant stone fort, most of Old Point Comfort, and across the bay to Fort Wool and Rip Raps just offshore. So much history in one glance! It was amazing.

Above: A view of Robert E. Lee's quarters, from when he was stationed at Ft. Monroe.
Below: my beautiful cousin on the roof deck of the Chamberlin.  

All in all, it was a very special day and a holiday to remember forever. We're planning to go back to Fort Monroe when the weather is nicer to visit the Casemate Museum and see a little bit more of the grounds. And James really wants to take his kayak over to Fort Wool (I think I'll wait for the boat tour).

Happy Easter to you, if you celebrated! And if not, hope you had a happy weekend.

An afternoon in Olde Towne Portsmouth

As I mentioned earlier in the week, on Sunday, J., Baby A., and I took the ferry to Portsmouth. We had no particular plans of places to go or things to do. The wonderful museum district was right there, but because of the Redskins game later in the day, we didn't dare do anything too time-consuming that might prevent us from being back home in time for kickoff.

So we just walked for a bit. And ended up discovering some interesting little features about the city that we'd never known about before. In case you ever find yourself in a similar predicament, I give you a recap of our impromptu mini-walking tour of Historic Portsmouth, VA. Here are some of the things we saw and enjoyed.

-The seawall

The Portsmouth seawall stretches along the riverfront and walking it gives a wonderful view of the boats going past. Just on our way between the High Street and North Landings, we saw a couple of tugs (who sounded their horns obligingly -- is there anything more satisfying than the reverberating sound of a tugboat horn on a cloudy day?), a container ship, and a few beautifully painted yachts. Baby A. had a blast waving at them and added the word "boat" to her expanding vocabulary.

-Hog Island Lighthouse Lens

The Hog Island lens stood in a lighthouse on Hog Island (one of the Virginia barrier islands) until the island finally eroded away in the 1940s. Now the lens lives at the Portsmouth waterfront, just by the High Street ferry landing. The lens, dating from 1898, is cut through with tons of prisms, and huge, towering over even James, who towers over me and A. It was fun to walk around the glass pavilion and try and count all of the rainbows (hundreds and thousands of them. We didn't stand a chance).

-Trinity Church

Trinity Church was founded in 1761, served as a British garrison in the Revolutionary War, founded the Children's Hospital of the Kings Daughters in the 1890s, and features several beautiful Tiffany windows. It surrounds a gorgeous courtyard, and next to it is a really gloomily spooky old graveyard. Have I mentioned that one of my favorite things is to walk through graveyards and read the old names? My fingers itched for my grave-rubbing supplies.

-The Pass House

Currently, it's a photography studio, but from 1862-1864, the unassuming brick row house at the corners of Crawford and London Streets was a Union Army headquarters. To go outside the city, or across the river to Norfolk, you needed a pass, which you had to get at (you guessed it) the Pass House. We peeked over the gate and saw the door to the old pass office, and we also saw some really beautiful roses blooming by the fence. (We love January roses. Thanks, global warming!)

-Confederate Monument

It's a little unsettling to see the monument 'to our Confederate dead' standing so imposingly at the intersection of Court and High Streets (at least it was for me). From a purely objective standpoint, the monument is finely done, the carving of the soldiers who stand sentry on the four sides of the tall obelisk are super convincing, at least to a toddler -- Anouk kept pointing to them and calling, "Hi! Hi!" It was an experience to see it -- it made me mindful -- but all the same, it's one I'm glad I don't have to have every day.

-The Lightship Portsmouth Museum

The Lightship Portsmouth was built in 1915, kind of a traveling lighthouse used to help ships enter harbor at night. She was retired after almost 50 years of service, and now she's a museum featuring artifacts, photographs, old uniforms, and fitted out seaman's quarters (NONE of which we got to see because the museum itself was closed the day we went -- boo!) But we did get to explore the outside of the ship and pronounced it awesome.

Bonus attractions: The areas next to the High Street and North ferry landings, respectively, feature a red post-box and telephone booth donated by the city of Portsmouth in England. The telephone booth has an actual working pay phone in it, which is notable in and of itself. Definitely something to show the kids. A phone with a cord!

A dial tone! How quaint!

I hope you have enjoyed this brief collection all of the random things we happened to see as we moseyed along Olde Towne (those 'e's are driving me nuts!) Portsmouth. We sure did! I always make James stop when we see one of those old bronze historical marker signs so I can read it and on Sunday I read a dozen to my hearts' content. Hooray!

If you are wondering exactly what route we walked and are interested in recreating it, according to this map, we went up High Street to turn right on Dinwiddie, then right again on London Street all the way back to the ferry landing. Or you could just let the professionals take the lead.