Norfolk County

A major player in the country's development, Norfolk County possesses a unique history, one that reflects the many challenges and accomplishments that America has experienced since the country's birth in the late eighteenth century. The county's citizens have weathered a variety of storms, both natural and manmade, ranging from hurricanes, floods, British occupation and attacks, Federal occupation, and aggressive civic annexation, and have created a beautiful and useful landscape, appealing to both the artist's eye and industrialist's practicality.
This volume, with over 200 black-and-white images, takes readers into one of the Tidewater region's most historic locations and into an age made memorable by its unpaved roads, its early streetcars and horse-drawn wagons, its lively waterfront district on the Elizabeth River, and its emerging cityscape bordered by picturesque dairy farms. A rare visual journey, Norfolk County explores, through word and image, the area's diverse past, touching upon many elements of everyday life, including scenes of early one-room schoolhouses, historic churches, well-known industries, lush countrysides, and life along the river, as well as capturing vintage views of Great Bridge, Deep Creek,
and the Great Dismal Swamp.

Author and local historian Raymond L. Harper celebrates the greater Chesapeake area of a bygone era, when the city wore a much different countenance and life moved at a much slower pace, through a fascinating selection of old photographs and postcards. Whether a longtime native who remembers the city under an assortment of different names and boundaries or a newcomer to Chesapeake, Norfolk County will prove an entertaining and educational addition to any library.