This little park offers parking and a pier to walk out over Hampton Roads, the world's largest natural harbor. The anchorage or, roadstead, is the confluence of the James, Nansemond and Elizabeth rivers. - AsNotedIn
| Y/M/D | Person | Association | Description | Composition | Food | Event |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Y/M/D | Person | Association | Description | Composition | Food | Event |
| 1667/00/00 | Dutch forces engage English forces in Hampton Roads | Second Anglo-Dutch Naval War | ||||
| 1700/07/23 | THE MARY AND ANN drops anchor at Hampton, Virginia. The Lt Governor of Virginia, Francis Nicholson, welcomes the refugees and tells them that they will be taken to the old Monacan Indian area where land will be provided for them. | French Huguenots Settle in America | ||||
| 1838/08/18 | Titian Peale | Chief Naturalist | United States South Seas Exploring Expedition departs Hampton Roads. | United States Exploring Expedition | ||
| 1838/08/18 | Admiral Charles Wilkes | Expedition Leader | United States South Seas Exploring Expedition departs Hampton Roads. | United States Exploring Expedition | ||
| 1838/08/18 | James L Blair | Passed Midshipman | United States South Seas Exploring Expedition departs Hampton Roads. | United States Exploring Expedition | ||
| 1838/08/18 | James Dwight Dana | Mineralogist and Geologist | United States South Seas Exploring Expedition departs Hampton Roads. | United States Exploring Expedition | ||
| 1855/06/07 | The steamer Ben Franklin puts into Hampton Roads in distress. Larvae of the yellow fever transmitting mosquito, the Aedes aegypti, is found in the hull and the ship is quarantined in Hampton Roads until June 19. | 1855 Norfolk Yellow Fever Epidemic | ||||
| 1855/08/30 | Before the end of August all business in Norfolk is halted. The only ship operating in the Norfolk harbor is the J E Coffee. The steamer meets boats from Baltimore and Richmond in Hampton Roads to pick up the mail and bring in coffins. | 1855 Norfolk Yellow Fever Epidemic | ||||
| 1862/02/03 | David Farragut | Union Flag Officer | Having received his preparatory orders on the 23rd of December, his full orders from the Navy Department as Flag Officer on the 20th of January, Captain Farragut sails from Hampton Roads on the 3rd of February on the steamer USS HARTFORD. | Capture of New Orleans | ||
| 1862/03/08 | Confederate States Navy | Confederate forces | Confederate ironclad, CSS VIRGINIA attacks the Union blockade squadron at Hampton Roads. In 4 hours, she forces the steam frigate MINNESOTA aground, rams and sinks the sailing sloop USS CUMBERLAND and sets the sailing frigate USS CONGRESS a blaze. | Battle of Hampton Roads | ||
| 1862/03/08 | Confederate States Navy | Confederate forces | At 9 pm, the MONITOR enters Hampton Roads under a night sky illuminated by fire where she lays up near the stricken USS MINNESOTA. | USS MONITOR (wreck) | Battle of Hampton Roads | |
| 1862/03/09 | United States Navy | Union forces | As the CSS VIRGINIA returns with four other Confederate vessels to sink the USS MINNESOTA, the USS MONITOR appears and engages battle for the next 5 hours. | USS MONITOR (wreck) | Battle of Hampton Roads | |
| 1862/03/10 | Although the CSS VIRGINIA and the USS MONITOR had fought to a standstill, both the Confederate and Union media claim victory for their own sides. "The Merrimac Driven back by the Steamer!" - headline in Boston newspaper | USS MONITOR (wreck) | Launch of the Ironclads | |||
| 1862/12/25 | With orders issued 24 December, the crew of the MONITOR learn they are to sail to Beautfort, NC, to meetup with the USS PASSAIC and USS MONTAUK for a joint Army-Navy expedition against Wilmington, NC, and to join the blockade of Charleston. | USS MONITOR (wreck) | USS Monitor's Final Voyage | |||
| 1862/12/29 | After delays due to bad weather, USS MONITOR departures for Beautfort, North Carolina. | USS MONITOR (wreck) | USS Monitor's Final Voyage | |||
| 1907/04/26 | Theodore Roosevelt | Dignitary | After sailing down the Potomac into Hampton Roads on the presidential yacht Mayflower. Roosevelt is greeted by 100-gun salute by 16 American battleships, along with naval vessels from Great Britain, Germany, Argentina, Brazil and Chile. | Jamestown Exposition | ||
| 1910/11/14 | Eugene B Ely | Pilot | Eugene Ely becomes the first person to fly an aircraft off a ship, the scout cruiser USS Birmingham. | Birth of Naval Aviation | ||
| 1941/12/22 | Winston Churchill | UK Prime Minister | After a turbulent 10-day trip, the British battleship DUKE OF YORK with Winston Churchill, Admiral Dudley Pound, General John Dill and 84 others in the retinue, docks at Hampton Roads, Virginia. | Winston Churchill's Washington Conference |
| Particulars for Monitor-Merrimac Overlook Park: | |
|---|---|
| Sight Category | Landscape |
| Work | Type | AsNotedIn | Creator | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Cumberland | Poem | Henry Wadsworth Longfellow | "The Cumberland" is set on Hampton Roads |
By
At anchor in Hampton Roads we lay,
On board of the Cumberland, sloop-of-war;
And at times from the fortress across the bay
The alarum of drums swept past,
Or a bugle blast
From the camp on the shore.
Then far away to the south uprose
A little feather of snow-white smoke,
And we knew that the iron ship of our foes
Was steadily steering its course
To try the force
Of our ribs of oak.
Down upon us heavily runs,
Silent and sullen, the floating fort;
Then comes a puff of smoke from her guns,
And leaps the terrible death,
With fiery breath,
From each open port.
We are not idle, but send her straight
Defiance back in a full broadside!
As hail rebounds from a roof of slate,
Rebounds our heavier hail
From each iron scale
Of the monster's hide.
"Strike your flag!" the rebel cries,
In his arrogant old plantation strain.
"Never!" our gallant Morris replies;
"It is better to sink than to yield!"
And the whole air pealed
With the cheers of our men.
Then, like a kraken huge and black,
She crushed our ribs in her iron grasp!
Down went the Cumberland all a wrack,
With a sudden shudder of death,
And the cannon's breath
For her dying gasp.
Next morn, as the sun rose over the bay,
Still floated our flag at the mainmast head.
Lord, how beautiful was Thy day!
Every waft of the air
Was a whisper of prayer,
Or a dirge for the dead.
Ho! brave hearts that went down in the seas
Ye are at peace in the troubled stream;
Ho! brave land! with hearts like these,
Thy flag, that is rent in twain,
Shall be one again,
And without a seam!
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.