Norfolk

Chrysler Museum of Art

Museum · 1 Memorial Pl, Norfolk, VA 23510

One of the premier art museums in the American South, with significant 18th-century American art collections relevant to the Revolutionary era, including portrait paintings of Virginia's founding generation. The museum's collection of decorative arts from the colonial and Federal periods provides material culture context for understanding what life and commerce looked like in 18th-century Norfolk. The Moses Myers House, which the Chrysler manages, makes the two institutions complementary for understanding Revolutionary-era and early Federal Norfolk.

Hampton Roads Naval Museum

Museum · 1 Waterside Dr, Norfolk, VA 23510

Operated by the U.S. Navy within the Nauticus complex, the Hampton Roads Naval Museum interprets the naval history of the Chesapeake region from the colonial era to the present. Revolutionary War exhibits address the Battle of the Capes (September 1781), Dunmore's use of the Chesapeake as a British naval base, and the strategic importance of the Elizabeth River and Hampton Roads anchorage throughout the war. The museum provides essential context for understanding why Norfolk's location — at the junction of four rivers feeding into Hampton Roads — made it the most strategically significant port in the Chesapeake.

MacArthur Memorial — Historic Norfolk Courthouse

Museum · 198 Bank St, Norfolk, VA 23510

The MacArthur Memorial occupies the 1850 Norfolk City Hall and Courthouse building, but the site's history extends to the 18th century courthouse that stood here during the Revolution. Norfolk's courthouse was the center of civil authority in the town during the years of Dunmore's occupation and the 1776 burning. The memorial's location at the center of colonial Norfolk's civic geography makes it a useful anchor for understanding the Revolutionary-era town. MacArthur's tomb, five galleries of his military career, and the 1945 Japanese surrender documents are the primary exhibits.

Elizabeth River Waterfront — Town Point Park

Landmark · Town Point Park, 1 Waterside Dr, Norfolk, VA 23510

Town Point Park on the Elizabeth River waterfront occupies the geographic position where colonial Norfolk's commerce was conducted and where Lord Dunmore's warships anchored during 1775–76. The January 1, 1776 burning of Norfolk began when British ships shelled the waterfront and loyalist houses, a fire that spread to engulf most of the town. Standing at the waterfront today, visitors can see the Elizabeth River's width — narrow enough for ship cannon to reach downtown — that made Norfolk uniquely vulnerable to British naval power and explains why Dunmore could maintain a floating government here for months.

Fort Norfolk

Landmark · 810 Front St, Norfolk, VA 23510

The oldest surviving fort in the United States (authorized 1794, built 1795–1800), Fort Norfolk stands on the Elizabeth River waterfront at the site where Revolutionary-era fortification was first proposed. During the Revolution, the waterfront here was the location of the HMS Fowey and other British warships from which Lord Dunmore conducted his floating government in 1775–76. The fort built after the Revolution replaced the informal defensive positions used during the war. It is the best surviving physical anchor for understanding the Norfolk waterfront that Dunmore controlled and that was burned on January 1, 1776.

Hunter House Victorian Museum (Colonial-Era Site)

Historic House · 240 W Freemason St, Norfolk, VA 23510

The Hunter House Museum building dates from 1894, but it occupies a lot in the Freemason Street neighborhood that was part of colonial Norfolk's most prosperous residential district — the area inhabited by the merchant elite who were predominantly loyalist during the Revolution. The Freemason district's history as Norfolk's wealthiest neighborhood before and after the burning of 1776 illuminates the social geography of the Revolutionary town: who lived where, who fled with Dunmore, and who stayed to rebuild. The museum's Victorian furnishings document the long arc of Norfolk's recovery.

Moses Myers House

Historic House · 323 E Freemason St, Norfolk, VA 23510

Built 1792 by Moses Myers, a prosperous Jewish merchant who arrived in Norfolk after the Revolution, the house is the oldest surviving private residence in downtown Norfolk and one of the best-preserved Federal-period houses in America. Myers was one of the first Jewish residents of Norfolk, and the house illuminates the post-Revolutionary mercantile community that rebuilt the city after the catastrophic January 1, 1776 burning. The Chrysler Museum manages the house as a museum with original furnishings including a Houdon bust of Napoleon and portraits by Gilbert Stuart and Thomas Sully.