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 The 
 
 Capes 
 
 of 
 
 Virginia 
 
 Showing the 
 
 A dv ant ages r.nd 
 /-I ttractions ot^ 
 
 Norfolk, 
 Portsmouth, 
 Suffolk, 
 NtWDOit News, 
 Ha mpton. 
 
 
 
 Richmond, Va., M Mtor Publishing Co., !='98. 
 
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Class. 
 Book. 
 Copyright]^'- 
 
 COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 
 
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 HE CAPES 
 
 -^K^ OF Virginia, 
 
 
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 SHOWING THE ADVANTAGES AND 
 ATTRACTIONS OF 
 
 NORFOLK, PORTSMOUTH, 
 
 SUFFOLK, NEWPORT NEWS. 
 HAMPTON, 
 
 RICHMOND VA.: 
 
 MONITOR PUBLISHING CO. 
 1898. 
 L. 
 
 ^. -3. U, 
 
^^:i-" 
 
 
 ori946 
 
 Copyrighted by 
 
 DAWSON & SEATON. 
 
 1897. 
 
 TWO COPIES RfcC-iViD. 
 
 FE3 2X1899 \ 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 I/©/®,'©/©/© 
 
 This work is designed to acquaint the Capitalist and Home- 
 seeker with the benefits and advantages that accrue to all who desire 
 to find congenial climate, health, pleasure, and profitable investment 
 within the confines of the section under consideration. 
 
 The main object is to promote the interest of the community, 
 attract the Capitalist and Investor to the Point of Investigation, and 
 secure the settler. 
 
 It is endeavored to give as succintly as possible without undue 
 brevity, the facts, as may be borne out by statistics in regard to the 
 Manufacturing, Industrial, Commercial, and Transportation facilities, 
 that these cities afford with the hope that they may meet with a care- 
 ful perusal by each and every one seeking to change his location or 
 embark in new enterprises, and to such we say, come and investigate; 
 you will find everything we claim, and more, too, in abundance. 
 
 Those who wish further information will be cheerfully accom- 
 modated by applying to any of the Eailroad and Steamship Lines or 
 the Boards of Trade, Business Men's Associations, or Chambers of 
 Commerce of any of the cities enum.erated. 
 
 In the following pages no attempt has been made to give an 
 exhaustive historical review, and on these lines we will, without going 
 into extensive details, proceed to the Capes. 
 
...WITHIN THE... 
 
 CAPES OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 Leaving New York City at 3 P. M. via tlie Old Dominion Steam- 
 ship Co., aboard a modern screw steamer, where elegance and comfort 
 abound, you arrive in the early morning off the Capes of Virginia, 
 objects well known, though they occupied a more prominent place in 
 the chronicles of America in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries 
 than they do at present. 
 
 The Southern headland is Cape Henry. It is a point of sand 
 hills thinly clad with wiregrass, and bordered in the rear by tall scrub- 
 pines, beyond which projects a low spit of sand which constitutes the 
 jS^orthermnost point of an almost perfectly straight and extraordi- 
 narily hard ocean-strand. 
 
 Upon the most prominent headland at the point stands a lofty 
 light-house, bearing a fixed white light, visible to a great distance. 
 The next light south of it is tliat at Hatteras, w^hilst the next harbor 
 fit for commerce is no nearer than Wilmington, IST. C. 
 
 Cape Henry stands at the entrance of Chesapeake Bay, twelve 
 miles in width, .Beyond the entrance, northward, the lands begin 
 again in a number of marshy or sandy islets, which gradually coalesce 
 into a solid shore-line stretching to Delaware. 
 
 This point is called Cape Charles, and upon the outermost islet 
 the Government has built a beacon wdiose light is exhibited in flashes, 
 and is called ''Smith's Island Light." 
 
 Having passed within, between Capes Henry and Charles, the 
 "Virginia Capes," the traveller finds himself entering upon an im- 
 mense area of water, whose shape is vague and shores only partly visi- 
 ble. Attractive in the highest degree to the first voyagers and colo- 
 nists, this magnificent inclosure of water and its contiguous lands have 
 been the delight of generations since, and the scene of the most re- 
 markable episodes in the history of JSTorth America. 
 
 This region was among the very first whereon Europeans took 
 an abiding foothold, the earliest traces of civilization going even to 
 Sir Walter Ealeigh's adventures. 
 
 Turning sharply westward at Cape Henry, the coast strikes 
 almost straight westward for a dozen miles, terminating around Wil- 
 loughby's Bay and Mason's Creek. 
 
6 
 
 Tliree miles fiirtlier iuland is Sewell's Point (named after one 
 of the earliest settlers),wliere the coast-line turns directly southward, 
 forming the right or eastern bank of the Elizabeth River. 
 
 The irregular western shore of the Elizabeth Eiver falls away 
 westward from Craney Island to the entrance of Nansemond River, 
 beyond which it trends northward as the southern bank of the James. 
 The James, at its mouth, measured from Pig Point to ISTewport 
 jSTews, is between three and four miles wide, nor is this width much 
 reduced for many miles up. Its northern bank is formed by that 
 body of land lying between the York and the James called the penin- 
 sula of Virginia, the southernmost extension of which is the point 
 called Newport News, whence the shore strikes northeastward to Old 
 Point Comfort, outside of which begins the western shore of Chesa- 
 peake Bay, which is divided from the Atlantic by the ^'Eastern Shore" 
 or' Accomack, the southern extremity of which is Cape Charles and 
 its outlying islands. 
 
 Old Point Comfort and Willoughby's Sandspit are less than 
 three miles apart. The expanse of water inside them, including the 
 bight between Old Point Comfort and Newport News and the mouth 
 of the Elizabeth River, is called Hampton Roads. 
 
 A glance at any good map will make this description perfectly 
 intelligible. Six or seven miles southwest of Sewell's point, and 
 about four above its mouth, as marked by Craney Island, the Eliza- 
 beth suddenly forks into eastern and southern "branches." 
 
 At this river-head lies Norfolk, one of the liveliest and most 
 interesting cities in the South. 
 
 The harbor of Norfolk opens into Hampton Roads, a splendid 
 sheet of water safe from any gales that can blow, large and deep 
 enough to float the greatest navy that could be gathered there. 
 
 One nearly always may see at least one war-ship there, while its 
 blue expanse is ever dotted with the black hulks of ocean-going freight 
 steamers, the smaller vessels of the New York lines, and the trim 
 steamboats that ply between Norfolk and the score or more of ports 
 on Chesapeake Baj", or on the Potomac, York and James Rivers. 
 
 Here anchor sailing-ships also, or make their way slowly port- 
 ward across its bosom, while, in suitable weather, whole fleets of oyster 
 sloops simulate a yacht race as they troop back and forth between the 
 James River dredging-grounds and their homes. 
 
 In this varied and active commerce borne upon its surface in 
 the play of light and shade upon its brilliant waters, and in the very 
 charming mirage-effects that transform its shores, Hampton Roads 
 excel in beauty any inland sea along our Atlantic coast. 
 
 The most prominent on Hampton Roads just now is the great 
 railway terminus and harbor of Newport News, seven miles above 
 Old Point. 
 
This place is properly jSTewport's K'ews. In 1607, so the his- 
 tory reads, the colonists at Jamestown were nearly dead with famine 
 and illness and privation. They believed themselves abandoned, and 
 had resolved to attempt to retnrn to England, or to do some other 
 desperate thing. Taking their vessel they descended the James, 
 bnt here at the mouth they found an English vessel, under Captain 
 ISTewport, anchored off the point of land on the northern shore, who 
 told them that other ships, with John Smith's company and plenti- 
 ful supplies, were close behind. 
 
 The colonists landed, and with the newcomers held rejoicings, 
 since which the point has been known as that where "JSTewport's 
 N^ews" was received. The name "Point Comfort" was given in 
 equally romatic fashion, and on the same occasion. 
 
 Seven miles east of Newport News lies the ancient borough and 
 village of Hampton, which is now the most flourishing of the older vil- 
 lages of the tidewater part of the State. 
 
 The earliest history of Virginia centres there, and the town pos- 
 sesses some extremely interesting relics of early days. 
 
 When, in 1607, John Smith and the colonists, having landed at 
 Newport News, were seeking a site for a town they were met by 
 five natives, who invited them to their town, "Kecoughtan," which 
 was where Hampton now stands. 
 
 The locality Avas settled upon by some of the colonists within 
 three or four years, and here was fought one of the earliest battles 
 with the red men. The town was also attacked by the British forces 
 during the Eevolution, but they were beaten off. 
 
 Subsequently, however. Admiral Cockburn's men entered the 
 town, despite the defense, and sacked it. Since that time the town has 
 prospered beyond the average of Virginian villages. 
 
 It becomes annually the residence of many invalid visitors, owing 
 to the salubrity of its climate; has oyster-planting and fishing inter- 
 ests and some manufacturing. 
 
 In addition to this, the Government maintains there one of the 
 largest and most interesting of its Soldiers' Homes, and also the 
 Hampton Institute, a school for colored pupils and for Indians. Both 
 of these institutions contribute greatly to the prosperity, as well as to 
 the public interest -of the town. Hampton, at the head of the Hamp- 
 ton River, a diminutive tidal inlet, stands nearly at the end of what 
 may be called the mainland of the peninsula. The very end is three 
 miles below, and consists of a narrow sand spit, which Smith and 
 Newport named Point Comfort, in appreciation of their quiet anchor- 
 age beside it in 1607. When the next head-land above was distin- 
 guished as New Point Comfort, this naturally became "Old" and now- 
 adays the Comfort is left off and "Old Point" is the ordinary name. 
 
 The colonists who lived in constant fears of foes by land and sea. 
 
8 
 
 saw at once the defensive advantage of its position, as commanding the 
 James Eiver, and built a stockade there. 
 
 The very site, no doubt, of this early defense had been forgotten 
 by the time when, 150 years later, the British were awaiting Wash- 
 ington's attack at Yorktown, and the Comte de Grasse was again 
 throwing up fortifications at Point Comfort to aid the landing of 
 the French allies. After the War of 1812 was over, and we thought 
 it time to j^i'epare for another, this was the locality chosen for the 
 greatest fort in America, which was begun in 1819, and named 
 Fortress Monroe, in honor of the President. 
 
 Fortress Monroe is of irregular shape, with many salient 
 angles, and covers half or more of the little peninsula upon which it 
 is built, and which is now to all intents and purposes an island, 
 since the narrow neck of sand has been cut through and a bridge 
 takes its place. 
 
 The level parade ground, several acres in extent, takes up the 
 main part of the area within the massive walls, whose grassy ramparts 
 form the favorite promenade of all visitors; but at one side in the 
 midst of a great grove of wide-spreading live oaks are grouped the 
 handsome houses of the officers of the garrison, whose gardens are 
 models of horticultural display. 
 
 Several of the casements in this part of the fort are inclosed and 
 furnished as offices, storehouses, etc. But most of them are open, and 
 contain cannon, ready to do their duty should occasion arise. It 
 requires over 400 guns to complete the full armament of this fort- 
 ress. 
 
 Beyond the officers' quarters a sloping roadway leads to the 
 inner and highest rampart, where heavy guns stand on silent guard 
 Outside and beyond the wide moat are the "outworks" (the water bat- 
 tery) along the sea front. In each arched and open casement lurks 
 a "dog of war" in the shape of a ten, twelve or fifteen-inch gun. At 
 the extreme left, upon a raised parapet, are the great cannon used in 
 the artillery practice. 
 
 The artillery practice is a part of the instruction of the School 
 of Artillery of the United States Army, Avhich is carried on at Fort- 
 ress Monroe, and forms sort of post-graduate course, after West 
 Point, in this most scientific branch of the service. About fifty 
 officers, all young men, are in attendance, and undergo a three years' 
 course of study, which is by no means confined wholly to gunnery and 
 the mathematics of projectiles, but embrace instruction in many lines 
 of scientific theory and practice. 
 
 It would be possible to write a whole article and an entertaining 
 one, too, about this magnificent fortress, whose interest and beauty it 
 is impossible to describe in a few words. 
 
9 
 
 The wliole area of Old Point is a Government reservation and 
 makes this one of the most popular watering places in the world, and 
 one which in America is equalled only by Saratoga and IN^ewport in 
 the number of persons of public reputation who annually meet here. 
 The two attracting influences are its climate and its social advan- 
 tages. In the former characteristic, it possesses little if any superi- 
 ority over the whole region embraced in the present article — Norfolk, 
 ISTewport Xews, or Suffolk — but in the latter respect it is unrivalled 
 by reason of the adjacent garrison and artillery school, which gathers 
 at Fortress Monroe a large number of cultivated and leisurely gentle- 
 men, together with not a few ladies, whose greatest pleasure is to be 
 found in benevolently contributing to the amusement of the mass. 
 
 The steadiness of the weather, produced by great masses of water 
 on three sides of Old Point, is proverbial and in the highest degree 
 enjoyable; but it is exceeded in unchangeability by the persistence 
 and perpetual glory of the shoulder-straps that irriadiate the parlors 
 and reading-rooms, the dinner, and dance, whether it be sunny out- 
 doors where the gentle waves curl on the white beach at the piazza's 
 foot, or shady, and the water is hissing with hurried foam. 
 
 Just across the channel, perhaps a mile away, and on the line 
 with which separates Hampton Koads from the outer bay, a round 
 fort rises out of the water as though built up from the bottom. This 
 appearance tells the exact fact. It is Tort Wool, and its foundation 
 is the Kip-Paps, a shoal upon which, many years ago, the Government 
 engineers dumped a million dollars' worth of stone and formed a 
 small island, reared just above the waves. Upon this secure and 
 expensive foundation a fortification was begun which was intended to 
 be the counterpart of Fortress Monroe except in size, and to command 
 the entrance to James Piver. 
 
 It was never completed, and will never be. Its walls would 
 crumble under improved gunnery; and its ordinance (what is left 
 of it) could make no effect in reply upon a modern ironclad. 
 
 Its total garrison is one caretaker, and its sole service is to stand 
 as a picturesque relic of an outgrown system of coast defense. 
 
 Chesapeake Bay is so broad here that even from the lofty ram- 
 parts of the fort, or the lantern of the lighthouse beside the 
 water battery, the eye can scarcely see the faint line of the lowlying 
 Eastern Shore. 
 
 I spell it mth capital letters, because that is the name given in 
 d general way to the whole peninsula between the Chesapeake and 
 the Atlantic. The lower end alone concerns us. It is a level, sandy, 
 pine-growing region, indented by numerous tidal entries and pitted 
 with swamps. The lower end is broken, by connecting channels, into 
 islands large and small, the largest of which is Goodwins', and the out- 
 
10 
 
 erinost one is a sandy barrier called Smith's, whicli bears the light- 
 house, a mile within this is Cape Charles, at the terminus of the main- 
 land. 
 
 The people are chiefly fiishermen and oystermen, with some 
 small fruit farmers. Ten miles above Cape Charles is an inlet called 
 Cherrystone, famous for its oysters, natural and planted. Sports- 
 men resort to the tidal inlets and low shores in the ducking season, 
 and find excellent sport with wild-fowl and beach birds, while sea 
 fishing in the offing is a source of perpetual profit and amusement. A 
 railway has been extended down there from Wilmington, Del., end- 
 ing at a wharf near the Cherrystone Lighthouse, where a new town 
 has been built, called Cape Charles City. 
 
 This is the jSTew^ York, Philadelphia and jSTorfolk Railway, and 
 is connected with Norfolk and Old Point by a steam ferry. 
 
 This road shortens by a large proportion the transportation dis- 
 tance between the lower bay and river ports and northern cities, and 
 proves a great benefit to oystermen, fruit-growers, and various local 
 industries in Eastern A-'^irginia. 
 
 Thus -^v^e have the complete round of Hampton Roads, from 
 Cape Henry, through ISTorfolk, Suffolk, Warwick, Hampton, and 
 Accomack back to the sea at Cape Charles. It has been too rapid a 
 run, too casual a survey; but it hints at the wealth of scenery, history, 
 science, health, and plesaure which awaits the capitalist or settler who 
 cares to investigate. 
 
 m 
 
CITY OF NORFOLK AND NORFOLK COUNTY. 
 
 ftorloJk Counttj 
 
 Was formed in 1691 from Lower Norfolk. It is twenty-four miles long 
 with a mean breadth of nineteen, and stretches from the North Caro- 
 lina line to Hampton Roads on the north, with Elizabeth River and its 
 branches penetrating every part. 
 
 In the southeastern corner, partly in this county and partly in 
 Nansemond, is the celebrated "Dismal Swamp," which, lying higher 
 than the surrounding country, furnishes an abundant supply of the 
 purest water, which can be carried to the cities of Norfolk and Ports- 
 mouth. This large, and to a great extent undeveloped, if not unex- 
 plored tract of land, is covered with the most valuable timber, pine, 
 cypress, cedar, juniper, and gum of wonderful value, interspersed with 
 the oaks and other hard woods, are all around a navibable lake or 
 bordering outlets into the waters of Norfolk, when cleared of timber, 
 and were necessarily drained, in the simplest manner, these lands ex- 
 hibit the greatest fertility. It is doubtful if any land in the United 
 States can excel the Dismal Swamp in the productions of corn and 
 potatoes. 
 
 The population of Norfolk county is about 17,000. Number of 
 acres of land, 229,647. The surface of the county is level, the soil a 
 sandy loam with clay sub-soil. Nature seems to have designated it 
 for a great garden, and it is rapidly being utilized in that way. Gar- 
 dens and trucking farms are spreading in every direction around Nor- 
 folk and Portsmouth, soil, climate, market facilities, all concurring to 
 give an unexampled impetus to the trucking business. Other crops 
 can be raised — corn, oats, peanuts, and other field crops. Communi- 
 cations with all the great cities is now rapid and easy, and freights are 
 cheap. Early vegetables and strawberries of the finest quality are 
 shipped in immense quantities, and bring a large amount of money 
 into this county and those adjacent. Perishable fruits and vegetables 
 can be gathered in the evening and placed in the New York market by 
 sunrise next morning. No part of the country offers a more inviting 
 field to enterprising and industrious settlers than does Norfolk county. 
 The county of Norfolk has 80 public schools — white, 40; colored, 40. 
 In the year 1705 Norfolk M^as incorporated as a town, although it 
 had quite an extended existence prior to this date. Its official life dates 
 as above. It is located at the junction of the two branches of the Eliza- 
 beth River, which, uniting, forms the harbor of Norfolk, than which 
 there is no greater or safer one in America. 
 
 This inner harbor opens out, by means of the Elizabeth River, into 
 Hampton Roads, a distance of three miles away. It is doubtful if this 
 harbor has its equal either in the old or new worlds. 
 
 As regards the depth of water, twenty-eight feet can be carried into 
 and on through the inner harbor, and thirty feet can be carried up to 
 Lambert's Point, the coaling station of the Norfolk and Western rail- 
 road, while the Hampton Roads water reaches as high as fifty feet to 
 sixty feet in depth. Commodore Maury wrote of Norfolk and its 
 waters, "Naturally and both in a geographical and military point of 
 view, Norfolk, with Hampton Roads, at the mouth of the Chesapeake 
 Bay, as its lower harbor, and San Francisco, inside of the Golden Gate, 
 in California, occupy — one on the Pacific, the other on the Atlantic — the 
 most important maritime positions that lie within the domains of the 
 United States. Each holds the commanding point on its front; each 
 
12 
 
 has the finest harbor on its coast; each with the most convenient in- 
 gress and egress for ships, and each as safe from wind and wave as 
 shelter can malve them. Nor is access to either ever interrupted by the 
 frosts of winter." 
 
 These advantages of deep water and safe harbors and the near 
 proximity of the same to the open sea have resulted in the rapid de- 
 velopment of the commerce of this port. 
 
 NorfolK's geographical position is central on the Atlantic coast, 620 
 miles from Boston, 1,326 miles from New Orleans, 300 miles from New 
 York, and 350 miles from Charleston. 
 
 It is in latitude 36:50, and nearly on the meridian of Washington. 
 
 It is abreast of the Gulf Stream, where it takes its northeastern 
 trend towards England. 
 
 It is almost within hearing of the ocean. Looking across the con- 
 tinent, it is near the same latitude of San Francisco; looking across the 
 ocean, it is vis-a-vis with the Straits of Gibraltar. 
 
 St. Louis is 300 miles nearer Europe via Norfolk than via New 
 York 
 
 POPULATIOX. 
 
 1897, basis of registration, 57,000. 
 
 There is within the radius of three miles from the City Hall a popu- 
 lation of 100,000. 
 
 The water supply of the city is abundant, and is furnished through 
 the Holly system from fresh water lakes five to seven miles distant. 
 This water is admirably adapted to manufacturing, being free from the 
 properties which cause boilers to corrode. Wells furnish plenty of 
 water, also, of equally good quality and at a small expense. Negotia- 
 tions are pending to furnish every future want of an increasing popula- 
 tion. Average daily supply, 5,282,695 gallons. Average daily consump- 
 tion, 4,200,000. Total cost and expense of Water Works to July 1st, 
 1897, $1,600,000. 
 
 The city is lighted both by electricty and gas. Two electric light 
 companies and one gas company supply ample light to all. 
 
 The climate of Norfolk is delightfully mild, and in the summer the 
 city is adways cooled by the salt air from the ocean and surrounding 
 rivers. There are no fresh water streams anywhere near. The nights 
 are delightful, even during the hottest periods, the prevailing breeze 
 being southern, and comes laden with the sweet odor of Lake Drum- 
 mond, over which most beautiful waters the winds are wafted. 
 
 The city is perfectly healthy, and is supplied throughout with the 
 Waring sewer system. The percentage of pulmonary diseases is very 
 small, and the mortality record shows a smaller death rate than that of 
 most of the cities of the Atlantic seaboard. The death rate, white, per 
 1,000, is an average of 17, while the death rate among the colored people 
 reaches much higher. It is no more than is the case wherever they are. 
 
 There are no diseases especially prevalent at Norfolk or in its vicin- 
 ity. Malaria is practically unknown. The Chesapeake and Virginia 
 sea coasts are singularly free from fogs, and with such excellent sewer- 
 age, Norfolk is, for the white person housed comfortably, living cleanly, 
 and well nourished, one of the most healthful cities of the world. 
 
 FIRE AND POLICE DEPARTMENT. 
 
 Norfolk has a finely equipped paid Fire and Police Department, 
 with the Gamewell system of fire alarm telegraph. 
 
13 
 
 CHURCHES. 
 
 The various Christian denominations are fully represented, the ag- 
 gregate number of church edifices being over thirty. 
 
 There are two Hebrew synagogues. Norfolk has a splendid Young 
 Men's Christian Association, with gymnasium, which cost $38,000. 
 
 The hotels of Norfolk are spacious, conveniently located, and in all 
 respects up to the modern standard. They are very prosperous, and do 
 a large transient business. 
 
 In addition to the usual hotels, there is also a modern hotel, well 
 adapted to the needs of the day, recently opened to the public, the esti- 
 mated cost of which approximates half a million dollars. 
 
 HOSPITALS. 
 
 Norfolk has two excellent hospitals — St. Vincent's and the Retreat 
 for the Sick. St. Vincent's is the oldest institution of its kind in this 
 State. 
 
 SCHOOLS. 
 
 Norfolk is provided with first-class schools. It has an excel- 
 lent system of public graded schools, from the primary to the high 
 school. Besides the public school system, there are numerous excel- 
 lent private schools. The educational facilities of the city are good. 
 Children are taken from the primary to the high school and prepared 
 for the university. Graduates from the high school as well as from the 
 private schools are admitted as State pupils to the university without 
 the payment of tuition fees. There is an industrial department in the 
 public high school, where stenography, typewriting, and bookkeeping 
 are taught. Total cost of all property used for public school purposes 
 and belonging to the city was $150,000 
 
 PLACES OF AMUSEMENT. 
 
 The Academy of Music is one of the largest and finest buildings of 
 the kind in the South, and is well patronized, as our people take ad- 
 vantage of every opportunity for enjoyment. 
 
 There are several other small places that furnish amusement for 
 those of more moderate tastes. 
 
 WATERING PLACES. 
 
 Norfolk has more watering places, accessible by land and water, 
 than any other city in the country. 
 
 The Atlantic sanitarium and delightful summer and winter resort, 
 Virginia Beach, is eighteen miles away, and is easily reached by numer- 
 ous trains daily. Ocean View is eight miles by electric railway, requir- 
 ing only a few minutes time to reach it. Here can be found pleasure, 
 comfort, and health in many ways; fishing, the best; bathing, the 
 safest; fare, the most delightful. Old Point Comfort, known the world 
 over, is twelve miles from Norfolk, and is reached many times each day 
 by numerous steamers, which stop going and coming. The Hygeia, 
 justly celebrated as a winter and summer resort, and enjoying a most 
 enviable reputation; the more modest, but charming, Sherwood, and the 
 elegant and commodious Chamberlain sum up the line of fine hotels. 
 
 Here, each year assemble large numbers of representative people, 
 who come for health, rest, and recreation, and return having enjoyed 
 them all. The garrison at Fortress Monroe and the officers of the navy 
 add much to the charm of the place. 
 
 No safer places for bathing are found. The favorable climate makes 
 the vicinity of Norfolk the future seaside resort of the Atlantic coast. 
 
14 
 
 The finest fishing in the country is found in these waters, and 
 within a few hours' ride of the city there is a variety of game for the 
 sportsman, including quail, woodcock, snipe, and duck. 
 
 SUBURBAN. 
 
 The Norfolk Company, a corporation formed by foreign and local 
 capitalists in 1890, purchased Ghent, about 250 acres of land within 
 the city limits, and with a capital of $3,000,000 proceeded at once to 
 improve this portion of the city in the very best manner. 
 
 A new layout of streets was adopted, old buildings torn down, a 
 complete system of sewerage was designated and established, the city 
 water supply amply introduced, gas, electric lights, telephone system, 
 and, in fact, all city requirements and conveniences, in the most modern 
 methods of design and construction, have been placed in operation. 
 The broad and attractively laid out streets have been paved with as- 
 phaltum blocks and with granolithic sidewalks, lined with numerous 
 varieties of shade trees. 
 
 Many of the most prominent citizens of Norfolk have built houses 
 for themselves in Ghent that cannot be surpassed in design, taste, and 
 conveniences in any city of the United States; and the various styles of 
 architecture, together with the beautiful arr-angements of lawns and 
 parks, cause this portion of the city to be shown to visitors with much 
 pride. 
 
 STREET a\J£S. 
 
 On the 14th of October, 1894, the first electric car was run in 
 Norfolk, an event of great importance, considering the crowded condi- 
 tion of part of the city and the necessity for building up the suburbs. 
 
 The construction is of the finest and most modern description, and 
 the plans of the company for extension and rapid transit to every avail- 
 able point are such as to insure a complete system of electrical street 
 car service, both within and without the city limits. 
 
 TAXATION. 
 
 City taxes, for all purposes, are $1.70 on the $100; State tax, 40 cents 
 on the $100. Basis of taxation is not more than two-thirds of actual 
 value. 
 
 PERSONAL PROPERTY 
 
 Total assessed value $3,619,170 00 
 
 Taxes on same 51,053 04 
 
 CITY CREDIT. 
 
 Bonded debt 3,232,150 00 
 
 Tax rate, city and State $2.10 on the $100 
 
 Assessed values $ 21,309,910 00 
 
 Total revenue for 1897 $382,814 80 
 
 CITY FINANCES. 
 
 The securities of the city, which bear a low rate of interest, sell 
 uniformly from 5 to 10 per cent, above par, and are eagerly sought as 
 investments. This is the best evidence of a healthy financial condition. 
 
 Norfolk has seven clearing-house banks, having a combined capital 
 of $1,370,000, a surplus of $546,500, and they afford every facility for the 
 handling of the cotton and lumber interests; but capital to^the extent of 
 two or more millions could be profitably employed in pushing various 
 enterprises which would afford ample security to the lender. 
 
 Banking capital is exempt from city taxation. 
 
15 
 
 CLEARING HOUSE FIGURES. 
 
 Clearances in 1885 $33,228,851 
 
 Clearances in 1897 46,484,931 
 
 Balances paid in 1885 5,958,128 
 
 Balances paid in 1897 6,983,779 
 
 COST OF LIVING. 
 
 The cost of living in Norfolk will compare favorably with any 
 other locality, the markets affording a great variety at all seasons of 
 the year, and at a price within the reach of the most impecunious. 
 
 REAL ESTATE. 
 
 Assessments, 1885 $12,307,130 
 
 Assessments, 1890 19,925,190 
 
 Nearly one-third of the entire State's increase of 25,000,000 
 
 Assessments, July 1st, 1895 21,865,155 
 
 All sales in real estate are made by members of the Real Estate and 
 Stock Exchange, which for twelve years has been the leading influen- 
 tial exchange in conceiving and consummating enterprises affecting its 
 interests. Largely through its efforts values have been maintained, 
 and all public sales are carried on in its rooms. 
 
 BUSINESS EXCHANGES. 
 
 The Cotton Exchange, Chamber of Commerce, Lumber Exchange, 
 Merchants and Manufacturers' Exchange, and Real Estate Exchange all 
 guard zealously the interests of their spheres, while the Business Men's 
 Association, the largest and most influential organization, contributes 
 its powerfvil efforts for the general advancement of the city and sur- 
 roundings. Its large and handsome rooms are visited by every dele- 
 gation of importance, and every stranger of character finds himself 
 welcome within its portals. All advanced questions bearing upon Nor- 
 folk's prosperity receive consideration and investigation by its Board 
 of Directors, and its aid is fully given to any deserving applicant need- 
 ing assistance for movements of general benefit. 
 
 RATES OF WAGES. 
 
 One of the most interesting facts to strangers looking to a city as a 
 future home, or for investments, is the labor question and the wages 
 paid mechanics and laborers. We desire to say to all such that wages 
 paid in Norfolk, while not excessive, are very fair; the laboring element 
 is very conservative and faithful; strikes are unknown. In the district 
 for which Norfolk is trade centre and market place, 25,000 truckers' 
 hands, according to the National census, are employed. It must now 
 reach 30,000; besides, there are about 4,000 fishermen and oystermen, 
 for nine months in the year; 3,500 raili'oad men; 4,000 factory hands; 
 1,500 to 2,000 employed at the navy yard; ships' crews paid off here, etc. 
 It is safe to estimate that the week's wages of 30,000 of the wage earn- 
 of this district of country are in circulation here-about all the time, not 
 to mention the other classes at all. 
 
 POSTAL RECEIPTS. 
 
 Postal receipts 1880 (3-cent postage) $35,851 41 
 
 Postal receipts 1894 (2-cent postage) 83,309 46 
 
 Postal receipts 1897 (2-cent postage) 98,628 34 
 
 BUILDING MATERIAL. 
 
 The cost of lumber for building is cheaper than in any other mar- 
 ket. A large portion of the immense lumber output is shipped to North- 
 
16 
 
 ern markets ready dressed and prepared for the builder when it leaves 
 the mill. Other materials can be had at proportionate prices. 
 
 MANUFACTURING ENTERPRISES. 
 
 No place South offers greater advantages for manufcturing enter- 
 prises than here, where cheap and abundant labor, coal and transpor- 
 tation can be obtained; here, where all parts of the woi'ld are reached 
 at a minimum rate, by land and sea, and where justifiable hope inspires 
 confidence. 
 
 There are already a number here, and there is hardly any industry 
 that can be mentioned which would not find at Norfolk a favorable 
 location for the manufacture, sale, and distribution of its products, as 
 well as for the cheap gathering of its material and labor. Especially 
 favorable inducements are held out for new industries in the suburbs. 
 Real estate owners are willing to furnish sites, and the city ordinances 
 provide for the exemption from taxes of manufacturing capital invested. 
 Special terms can be made for water by manufacturing plants. 
 
 TRADE AREA. 
 
 The local wholesale and retail trade of Norfolk has a territory em- 
 bracing, besides the immediate vicinity, the entire tidewater section of 
 Virginia and the eastern portion of North Carolina, the most fertile re- 
 gion of the State, in which cotton and grain are largely cultivated. 
 Several branches of trade have a much larger scope and extend to 
 nearly every Southern and Southwestern State. 
 
 Approximates $130,000,000 per annum. 
 
 GENERAL TRADE. 
 
 Take the trade figures of some of her receipts of 1888, and the won- 
 derful development is all the more striking: 
 
 1888. 1897. 
 
 Lumber, feet 138,625,263 299,852,345 
 
 Staves 5,848,906 8,541,574 
 
 Shingles 30,714,540 40,574,100 
 
 Hay, tons 7,709 26.488 
 
 Corn, bushels 736,858 13,067,571 
 
 Oats, bushels 247,970 620,428 
 
 Meal, bushels 183,924 397,821 
 
 Rough rice, bushels 6,168 11,512 
 
 Bran, bushels 103,242 291,674 
 
 Peanuts, bags (4 bushels) 289,162 496,074 
 
 Sugar, barrels 30,154 38,372 
 
 Butter (tubs) 20,185 29,487 
 
 Cheese (boxes) 14,108 34,347 
 
 Flour, barrels 181,798 286,176 
 
 Cottonseed oil, barrels 5,799 l^oln 
 
 Naval stores, barrels 14,198 „'li^ 
 
 Horses, head 922 7,689 
 
 Cattle, head 2,919 ,1^,605 
 
 Coal, tons (Pocohontas) 938,869 ^'1,^^, 
 
 Pie iron tons 38,545 152,931 
 
 r-ig 11 uu, LUU& . „ „ „^ 
 
 Coke, tons 168 *"'"'^'' 
 
 TRUCKING. 
 
 Green stuff, 1897, $6,000,000. This industry is greatly increasing in 
 importance, being about one-tenth of that of the whole United States, 
 and is of inestimable benefit to this section, all proceeds remaining 
 here with the exception of the cost of seed and some fertilizers. 
 
 To give a single instance, there was shipped from Norfolk 292,204 
 barrels Irish potatoes in June, 1898, at an average of $3 per barrel. 
 
17 
 
 Formerly, large amounts were expended for barrels, fertilizers, and 
 other items, but the present day finds manufacturers of nearly all that 
 is needed by truckers in the immediate locality. 
 
 A great factor in the business of Norfolk, indeed, is its handling 
 of the production of truck farming. Some years ago United States 
 Commissioner Porter, in a very elaborate report on the trucking in- 
 dustry of the United States, mentioned the counties comprising the Nor- 
 folk trucking district as the most highly favored by nature for such 
 farming: and from statistics given by him, supplemented by statements 
 fi-om other sources not investigated by the United States, the crop of 
 1894 was placed at $6,200,000, against $1,800,000 in 1885, and it is safe to 
 say that the business of 1898 will realize $7,500,000. 
 
 Twenty years ago Norfolk trucking was in its infancy, one vessel y 
 being sufficient to handle the output, so far as the trade with Northern 
 cities was concerned. 
 
 For the past six years it has required the combined freight-carrying 
 ships of all the transportation lines and special trains on a number of 
 our railroads to move the crops and prevent the overcrowding of 
 wharves and warehouses. 
 
 These shipments are to the great markets of New York, Philadel- 
 phia, Baltimore, Washington, Providence, and Boston, and special re- 
 frigerator cars have opened the markets of Cincinnati, Chicago, St. 
 Louis, Louisville, and other Western cities. 
 
 The lumber trade has increased at the rate of 10 per cent, per year 
 for ten years, and now amounts in the aggregate to $10,200,000 per 
 annum. Extensive mills, with every modern appliance, occupy a large 
 portion of the water front. Two canals float immense rafts from 
 Eastern Carolina to feed the ever-revolving saw. Five million dollars 
 of capital, a host of labor, fleets of vessels and our great railroad facili- 
 ties are heavily taxed to move this vast product. About 75 per cent, of 
 the total cost of producing commercial lumber is paid to labor. In 
 no other business is the labor cost so great. 
 
 The capital invested in the business in this State and the Caro- 
 linas, largely controlled by Norfolk parties, in round numbers will 
 reach $20,000,000. The Secretary of the North Carolina Pine Lumber 
 Association is authority for the statement that labor gets $5,000,000 for 
 logging and sawing, to say nothing of other expenses incident. 
 
 Norfolk is easily the leading lumber port of the South Atlantic 
 Coast, and this one product leads the list of all other articles manu- 
 factured here. This is largely due to the fact that the city is directly 
 contiguous to the great "short-leaf," pine lumber region of North Caro- 
 lina, which extends from the Atlantic Coast to the James river and 
 embraces the section southwest of these until the sturdy oak of the 
 Piedmont region replaces the pines. 
 
 The territory comprises forty counties in North Carolina and thir- 
 teen counties in Virginia. It embraces an area of 14,500 square miles. 
 
 In this region there are about 300 saw-mills and at least one-half 
 of these are equipped with dry kilns and all modern apparatus. These 
 mills turn out every year some 800,000,000 feet of boards and bill stuff, 
 and of this vast output at least 90 per cent, finds a market in this city. 
 The claim that Norfolk is the great centre for handling of the North 
 Carolina pine product is substantiated by the fact that every year she 
 handles 600,000,000 feet, much of which is manufactured here, while 
 the balance passes through in transit to Northern markets. 
 
 The splendid transportation facilities of Norfolk for this tremen- 
 dous lumber trade comprises eight railroads and two canals. 
 
 PEANUTS. 
 
 Not less than $200,000 capital is employed in the business, and it is 
 one which Norfolk must enjoy as a monopoly, it being the nearest dis- 
 
18 
 
 tributing point for the crop producing region. The entire stock is sold 
 by commission merchants to six peanut factories, which have a ca- 
 pacity to clean, polish and sort out ready for shipment, 600,000 bags per 
 year, or 3,000,000 bushels. 
 
 Value (at extremely low prices) $1,000,000 
 
 Amount paid for labor per annum 120,000 
 
 Salaries of officers 30,000 
 
 Number of hands employed, 700. 
 
 Norfolk is the largest peanut market in the country. 
 
 There are half a dozen counties in Virginia in which the peanut 
 is the principal article produced and Norfolk is their natural market. 
 The receipts of this toothsome nut, the demand for which extends from 
 Canada to Texas and from the Atlantic to the Pacific, amounted in 
 1896 to more than two million bushels. 
 
 OYSTERS AND FISH. 
 
 Norfolk is famous the world over for her delicious oysters and fish. 
 An immense amount of capital and labor is expended in cultivating, 
 catching, opening, canning, and shipping these products, which are a 
 source of great profit to those who engage in the business. 
 
 There are about twenty-three firms or establishments engaged in 
 packing and shipping oysters here. They handle 2,500,000 bushels, 
 representing a value of $2,000,000 or upwards, and employ a capital of 
 $500,000 in the aggregate. About 1,500 or 2,000 people are employed in 
 "shucking," packing, etc. here, and an equal number in gathering and 
 bringing the catch to the wharves; 3,500 seems to be a fair estimate for 
 the total of hands engaged. 
 
 HOESE MARKET. 
 
 Norfolk now stands at the head of all the Southern cities as a 
 market for the sale of horses of all grades and conditions. In 1884 the 
 trade was so limited as not to be counted in the general estimate of 
 business. These animals are received from Virginia, West Virginia, 
 Tennessee, Illinois, Ohio, and Kentucky. The large majority of them 
 are ordinary work horses, but many are the best Kentucky riding and 
 driving stock. Receipts for 1897, 7,689 head. The purchasers come 
 from New York, Baltimore, Washington, North Carolina and Georgia. 
 
 BARRELS AND BOXES. 
 
 Norfolk is one of the largest markets in the South for the manu- 
 facture and sale of boxes, barrels, and crates for the shipment of fruits 
 and vegetables. The industry has grown greater in the past few years, 
 and the city at present furnishes the planters and fruit growers of 
 Eastern Virginia and the Carolinas, having practically a monoply of 
 this trade. 
 
 The boxes and barrels are nearly all Norfolk inventions and are 
 covered and protected by patents. 
 
 The trade, which is worth $1,000,000 annually, is divided between 
 about one dozen firms, who employ 1,000 hands at wages ranging from 
 $1 to $3 per day. For this particular trade the outlook is very promis- 
 ing. Some of the plants are large, covering acres of ground and are 
 supplied with the best machinery. One single factory, when on full 
 time turns out 6,000 barrels a day. 
 
 FERTILIZERS. 
 
 In spite of the depression in business generally all over the coun- 
 try the manufacture and sale of fertilizers at Norfolk, has shown a 
 very flattering increase during the past five years. This new de- 
 parture has long since been deemed desirable, and its realization marks 
 a new era in the ti'ade fi'om this port. 
 
19 
 
 There are now actually engaged in trade here ten companies and 
 firms together with an annual output of 75,000 to 100,000 tons, aggi-e- 
 gating in value from $1,500,000 to $2,000,000. 
 
 In addition to this, Norfolk is a distributing point for many manu- 
 facturers North of us, where the severity of the winters practically 
 cuts off sale communication between them and the outside world. 
 
 In the late fall and early winter cargoes of manipulated fertilizers 
 are sent down by these Northern manufacturers and stored here with 
 private storage firms and the transportation companies until the selling 
 and shipping season begins, in January and February. 
 
 The aggregate amount of fertilizers so handled will probably reach 
 40,000 to 50,000 tons annually. 
 
 These shipments, together with those made by the local compa- 
 nies, are a source of considerable revenue to the different railroads 
 centering here, the freight alone amounting to probably $300,000 to 
 $400,000. 
 
 The superior advantages presented by the location of the harbor, 
 its nearness to the broad Atlantic, across which is brought much of the 
 material used in the manufacture of fertilizers, its proximity to the 
 fisheries on the Bay, the product of which form no inconsiderable por- 
 tion of these manipulated guanos; its open harbor free from ice from 
 one year's end to the other; its unrivalled ti'ansportation connections 
 with the mammoth slaughter houses of the West, from whence come 
 many of the ingredients used in a complete fertilizer, peculiarly adapt 
 this Port to the economical conduct of this important industry; Nor- 
 folk must soon become what she is destined some day to be, "the lead- 
 ing fertilizer centre of the South," in the general estimate of business. 
 
 When a beneficent Providence stored the mountains of this country 
 with fuel supplies for a thousand and more generations to come that 
 fuel was placed by omniscent design in localities best adapted by 
 nature to the mining and distribution thereof. 
 
 Particularly is this true of Virginia and West Virginia coal, which 
 is to be found beneath the rugged ridges of the Alleghanies so close to 
 the seaboard that it can be transported thither within twenty-four 
 hours after it is mined. The price of coal is largely regulated, almost, 
 entirely so, in fact, by the distance over which it must be hauled, and 
 therefore those points close to the mining fields have the advantage of 
 cheaper fuel than points more remote. Norfolk had no coal trade 
 except for domestic consumption prior to 1886, when the Norfolk and 
 Western Railroad completed its branch lines to its coal fields. Since 
 then the coal business has increased to mammoth proportions; the 
 receipts of Coal for 1897 being approximately 1,800,000 tons. Such a 
 vast amount of business employs many hands and requires great ter- 
 minal facilities. 
 
 The force of men working on the railroad, on the coal pier, and at 
 the docks would make a good-sized regiment, and all make their homes 
 in Norfolk and Lamberts Point. 
 
 The terminal facilities at the Norfolk and Western coal piers at 
 Lamberts Point are second to none in the world. They enable the 
 company to empty 6,000 tons per day if necessary. It is no uncom- 
 mon sight to see as many as twenty-five to fifty vessels at the piers or 
 at anchor waiting their turn, and presenting the appearance of a verti- 
 ble forest of masts. 
 
 These facts make the price of coal here the lowest of any point on 
 the coast, and are of vast advantage to all industries using coal for 
 their power. The number of vessels engaged in carrying coal from 
 this port is estimated to be more than 1,000. 
 
 COTTON. 
 
 Norfolk is the fourth cotton port of the United States, and its cotton 
 trade has been developed since the Civil War. 
 
20 
 
 Prior to that period the receipts of cotton at Norfolk were very 
 small, the character of the business being but little understood. The im- 
 portance of the Port of Norfolk, with its safe and commodious harbor, 
 soon commanded the attention of both foreign and domestic shippers 
 of cotton, attracting to its capacious waters the tonnage and commerce 
 of Great Britain and Europe, engaged in the cotton traffic. 
 
 The receipts of cotton at Norfolk for the twelve (12) months ending 
 August 31, 1897, were 741,937 bales. 
 
 With the steady development of railway connections throughout the 
 South and Southwest, combined with the shipping facilities afforded 
 by a commodious harbor, the expansion of the cotton business at 
 Norfolk was a striking feature in the remarkable commercial progress 
 of the "Great South." 
 
 In addition to the commercial and foreign traffic in cotton at 
 this port, there are four cotton mills in operation here. 
 
 The general advantages which exist in the South over the North 
 and East for cotton manufacturing have been generally recognized, 
 and need no argument as it has been demonstrated that such grades 
 of cotton goods as the Southern mills have produced so far, have dis- 
 placed the Northern product, and the same result will develop itself 
 in the near future in the production of the finer grades. 
 
 In the establishing of cotton mills in the South the most impor- 
 tant point to be considered is which locality embraces all the com- 
 bined requirements to enable a manufacturer to produce his goods at 
 a yet unknown minimum cost. 
 
 The nearness of this port to the great European trade centers, her 
 splendid steamship connections with the same, and the celerity, 
 cheapness and ease with which cotton may be brought here for ship- 
 ment by the great railroad lines which tap the cotton fields of the 
 South, and the quick recognition of these advantages, have been re- 
 sponsible for the phenomenal increase of the cotton trade here. 
 
 Receipts (including flour), 1897, 15,173,503 bushels. 
 The elevator facilities for handling gi'ain at Norfolk are all that 
 could be desired. 
 
 TRANSPORTATION. 
 
 Length of railroads terminating at Norfolk, 17,091 miles. Cars 
 loaded and unloaded yearly, 500,000, with 7,500,000 tons. Coast-wise 
 Steamers making 500 trips per year handle within the same time, 
 7,000,000 tons; export tonnage, 1,500,000. 
 
 There is no city the size of Norfolk in the country which affords 
 equal transportation facilities by rail and water, and the same active 
 competition in the matter of rates, etc. 
 
 There are ten lines of railway and sixteen of steamships, radiating 
 from Norfolk, penetrating and connecting with every portion of the 
 Union. Trunk lines connect Norfolk with New York, Cincinnati, 
 Chicago, Columbus, and with the great West, Southwest and South, 
 it has in addition direct steamers and sail connection with Great 
 Britain and Continental ports. 
 
 NORFOLK'S FUTURE. 
 
 A study of the facts exhibited in the preceding pages forces one to 
 the conclusion that the prophecies of Matthew Maury are being re- 
 alized. At home and abroad, faith exists that within ten years Nor- 
 folk will have a population not far from 150,000; it will be the largest 
 shipping port south of Philadelphia; it will become the "greater Nor- 
 folk" by annexing the sister cities and towns of Portsmouth, Berkley, 
 Huntersville, Port Norfolk, West Norfolk, and South Berkley, and that 
 both shores of Hampton Roads will teem with pu'yulation, busy with 
 
21 
 
 numberless factories and ship-yards. The aggregation of railroads, 
 the ever increasing water transportation facilities, the multiplying of 
 factories, and the wide-spread interest excited by advertisements of its 
 advantages, must and will result in a steady, healthy advancement 
 (free from the evil effects of pernicious booms), and make Norfolk 
 one of the leading markets of the Western Hemisphere. 
 
 The future of Norfolk is assured. Her growth is in its infancy. 
 With a present population of 50,000, an immediate surrounding popu- 
 lation of 50,000, and a population of 1,000,000 directly tributary to her 
 in the eastern counties of Virginia and North Carolina, she will make 
 rapid strides to greatness. She is not isolated, but is surrounded with 
 prosperous and growing cities and towns — Portsmouth, Berkley, New- 
 port News, Hampton, Cape Charles, Suffolk, Smithfleld, Franklin and 
 Windsor, in Virginia, and Elizabeth City, Edenton, Plymouth, Wash- 
 ington, New Berne, Murfreesboro, Rock Mount, Wilson, and a host of 
 smaller towns in North Carolina. 
 
 If her growth has been phenomenal during the last fifteen years in 
 population and business, as shown by the facts and figures presented, 
 is it not safe to predict a still more phenomenal development and 
 growth that within ten years will make her the metropolis of the 
 South, and a strong and aggressive rival of New York for commercial 
 supremacy. 
 
 Norfolk has a great future as a manufacturing city. Its propinquity 
 to foreign ports, accessibility to supplies for all kinds and nearness to 
 the sources of trade, splendid harbor, large, deep, sheltered, safe, free 
 from ice the year round, and jealously guarded from storm and tempest, 
 must attract attention to its importance in this respect. Centering here 
 are railroads and steamship lines which reach to every part of the 
 world. Raw materials are to be found only a few hours away; every- 
 thing, in fact, needed in manufacture of almost any article in general 
 use is at the hand of the manufacturer who has grasped, or who will 
 grasp the opportunities presented to him. 
 
 Therefore, from the very nature and necessity of things, Norfolk 
 must in the course of a few years become one of the manufacturing 
 centres of the country, for the obvious reason that the men who make 
 things are going to select the places where they can make them the 
 cheapest and dispose of them at the least cost to themselves. This 
 prediction will be fulfilled unless business principles undergo a radical 
 and inexplicable change within the next decade or so. In the general 
 summing up oi the advantages afforded by Norfolk for manufacturers, 
 the following may be stated: 
 
 1. An extensive and favorable field for enterprises, both in line 
 already established here and others not yet attempted. 
 
 2. Cheap, convenient, and roomy sites; some of them to be obtained 
 (by concerns justifying it) free. 
 
 3. The fullest transportation facilities and competitive rates — water 
 and rail. 
 
 4. Abundant and cheap fuel supply in the coal brought here. 
 
 5. Abundance also, raw material in the iron, timber, cotton, grain, 
 fruits, and fish and other staples of its trade territory upon which 
 staples, manufactures are usually based. 
 
 6. A plentiful and tractable supply. 
 
 7. The incidentals of water supply, low taxes, etc. 
 
 8. A general sentiment favorable to such enterprises, and a willing- 
 ness on the part of business men and capitalists to participate in and 
 otherwise further such as are genuine. 
 
 There are both hard and soft woods close by for the manufacture 
 of furniture and woodenware; fruits, fish, oysters, vegetables of all 
 kinds sufficient to supply hundreds of cannaries; iron and coal are here 
 for everything in the factory line requiring iron and coal; sash and 
 blind building finish works, basket works, box factories, cooperages, 
 hat and shoe factories, plants for the making of wagons, farming im- 
 pliments, carriages, foundries — all these would have a great field here. 
 A paying beet sugar industry could be inaugurated. 
 
22 
 
 NORFOLK A RAILROAD TERMINAL. 
 
 Splendid has been the growth of Norfolk in the past twelve years in 
 population and trade; its development as a great railroad and trans- 
 portation terminal has been marvelous within that time. Great trunk 
 lines, with far-reaching connections, have put it in quick reach of 
 the South and Southwest and the West; for into and out of, back and 
 forth, the vast and culminative and increasing trade of these sections 
 flow. A little more than twenty years ago two short lines of rail, not 
 much exceeding 400 miles, was the sum total of the railroad system 
 that furnished a "trade area" to Norfolk. 
 
 Now nearly 18,000 miles of steelrail connects this port with the vast 
 territory of the South, the Southwest and West from the Eastern side 
 of the Mississippi. These great trunk lines embrace the Seaboard Air 
 Line, Chesapeake and Ohio, Atlantic and Danville, Southern Railway, 
 Norfolk and Western, Atlantic Coast Line, Norfolk and Southern and 
 New York, Philadelphia and Norfolk Railroads. 
 
 Besides these roads there are two smaller lines — the Norfolk, Vir- 
 ginia Beach & Southern and the Norfolk, Ocean View & Willoughby 
 Spit roads. All these roads are connected by a belt line, which en- 
 circles Norfolk, Portsmouth, Berkley, West and Port Norfolk and other 
 contiguous towns. 
 
 It was constructed by the New York, Philadelphia & Norfolk Rail- 
 way. An enormous convenience results, rendering the transfer of 
 freight and passengers from one line to the other of all the railways 
 centering here less tedious, less expensive and more rapid 
 
 With the quick development of Norfolk as a railroad terminal the 
 growth of the steamship transportation, foreign and coastwise, has 
 kept pace. This has been remarkably so with the regular freight lines 
 of ocean steamers to Europe. Less than three years ago there were but 
 two regular direct lines. Now there are five ocean transportation 
 lines, whose vessels go to every port of importance in the world with 
 their cargoes of cotton, corn, coal, lumber, packing-house products and 
 miscellaneous stuff. Among these ports may be mentioned Liverpool, 
 Hamburg, Rotterdam, Glasgow, London, Bristol, Leith, Hull, Belfast, 
 Dublin, Antwerp, Amsterdam, Manchester, Havre, and others. These 
 lines are Furniss Line, the North American Transportation Co., the 
 William Johnson Co., the Barber Transatlantic and the United States 
 Shipping Co. During the year there cleared from this port 500 ves- 
 sels with a tonnage of 500,000. And the present year will mark a 
 much greater increase. The value of the articles exported during 1897, 
 as computed from the custom-house record, reached a grand total of 
 $15,714,943, as follows: 
 
 Corn $ 4,187,169 
 
 Coal 248,626 
 
 Cotton 3,179,221 
 
 Flour 285,865 
 
 Logs and lumber 1,648,848 
 
 Staves and headings 240,255 
 
 Wheat 886,615 
 
 Coke 169,924 
 
 Splint and Bituminous Coal 233,267 
 
 Leaf Tobacco 546,132 
 
 Cattle 198,750 
 
 Lard •• 1,998,072 
 
 Pig Iron 534.397 
 
 Steel 95,225 
 
 Oils 465,652 
 
 Meat products 203,080 
 
 Meal 61,202 
 
 Miscellaneous articles 509,057 
 
 $15,714,943 
 
23 
 
 The coastwise steamship and steamboat lines have also greatly in- 
 creased in the number of splendid vessels and tonnage; all have vastly 
 increased their storage, wharfage and terminal facilities. The prin- 
 cipal steamship and steamboat lines are as follows: The Old Dominion, 
 running to New York; the Merchants & Miners', to Baltimore, Boston, 
 Providence and Savannah; the Clyde Line, to Richmond and Philadel- 
 phia; the Bay Line to Baltimore; the Baltimore & Norfolk Line, to 
 Baltimore; the Norfolk & Washington, to Washington; the Virginia 
 Navigation Co., to Richmond. Besides these are steamboat lines pene- 
 trating the sounds and rivers of North Carolina, the Nansemond, the 
 York and the Rappahannock, with daily ferry lines to Old Point, 
 Hampton, Newport News, Cape Charles, Smithfield, and Matthews, 
 Northampton and Accomac counties in Virginia. All these lines do an 
 immense freight and passenger business. 
 
 In connection with her foreign and coastwise steam lines, Norfolk 
 has two great canal systems, the Albemarle and Chesapeake canal and 
 the Dismal Swamp canal. The former connects this port with the 
 North Lauding river, and is a part of that great land-locked waterway 
 or inner route from New York to the Carolinas below Hatteras. Vessels 
 of 800 tons capacity can pass through this canal, and light-draft vessels 
 bound for Charleston, Savannah and Florida and the West Indies can 
 avoid the v/orst perils of "old ocean," especially the dangerous coast 
 of Hatteras. The Dismal Swamp canal antedates railroading in the 
 United States, and was one of the great enterprises of the fathers of 
 the country. 
 
 Among its original promoters was George Washington. The canal 
 proper is twenty-two miles long and sixty feet wide, and extends from 
 deep water to deep water. It is now undergoing extensive improve- 
 ments and will become a great factor in the development of Norfolk 
 
 The above statement of Norfolk's trade industries, advantages 
 and progress are vouched for as being absolutely correct in every im- 
 portant detail. 
 
i^ii^ of JJortsiiioutIv 
 
 The city of Portsmouth is a port of entry; is in Norfolk county, of 
 which it is also the county seat. It is conveniently situated on the 
 western shore of Elizabeth river, at a point where it empties into 
 the harbor. The populaton is about 17,000. It is a quarter of a mile 
 from Norfolk; about the same from Berkley. 
 
 Portsmouth's river frontage of deep water is about a mile, the river 
 being of sufficient depth at the wharves to float the largest vessels. 
 
 The city of Portsmouth is fair to look upon, being In appearance 
 comfortable and clean, a rare thing in seaport towns. 
 
 It is regularly laid out, having a double row of shade trees down the 
 middle of some of the streets. Public buildings, churches, and private 
 residences are handsome and well kept. Trucking is the main indus- 
 try; preparing "truck" for market and shipment gives employment to 
 thousands of men and women within the radius of five miles. 
 
 Three millions of dollars' worth of farm produce is shipped an- 
 nually, twelve hundred or thirteen hundred hands being sometimes en- 
 gaged in strawberries alone. Epidemic diseases are unknown, there be- 
 ing no record of any such visitation since the yellow fever, which was 
 brought from the South in 1855. The water supply of Portsmouth is 
 good and abundant; the fire department is first-class. The public schools 
 are large and well furnished. The city alms-house is on a farm a short 
 distance from the corporate limits. There is little destitution and 
 ci'ime in Portsmouth. 
 
 Portsmouth enjoys unsurpassed advantages of transportation, and 
 there are openings everywhere for enterprise and energy and capital. 
 
 The city has fine churches, and a seating capacity sufficient for the 
 needs of the people. Oyster-planting and harvesting are important in- 
 dustries of the city. One packing-house alone plants 30,000 bushels 
 annually and ships about 150,000, thus giving employment to hundreds 
 of laborers. There is a ready sale for the white oak timber of this 
 region of the city. Portsmouth connects with Norfolk and Berkley 
 every fifteen minutes by steamers, which ply between those towns. 
 
 In the southern part of the city is the United States navy yard, one 
 of the largest and best equipped navy yards in the country. A great 
 naval station and dry-dock of the United States is located here, and the 
 largest ships can be accommodated in this fine harbor and dock. 
 
 This yard at times employs as many as 1,500 men, and can build any 
 kind of vessel the Government may order. It requires immense 
 quantities of supplies and materials', which, as a rule, are purchased 
 here. 
 
 The enterprise and public spirit of the people have kept pace with 
 the development of their resources and their commerce. Fine shell 
 roads radiating in sundry directions from Portsmouth have superseded 
 the dirt roads that were used a few years ago. 
 
 Light — The city is lighted by electricity and gas. 
 
 Hotels — The hotel accommodations of the city are excellent and of 
 a high order. 
 
 Street Cars — The city is a perfect net-work of car lines, both elec- 
 tric and horse cars, affording abundant opportunity for transit any- 
 where in the city or suburbs. 
 
25 
 
 Enterprises that would be successful, and are needed — Large whole- 
 sale jobbers in various lines. Large ship yards, cotton mills. Factories 
 requiring the use of hard wood, so easily and cheaply obtained from 
 nearby counties. Canning factories, to take surplus green stuff and 
 the immense product of our bays and rivers, such as oysters, clams, 
 crabs, fish, turtles, etc. Sash, doors and blind factories. Large iron 
 working factories and foundries. Breweries, and hundreds of other 
 things too numerous to mention. 
 
 General Features — Much that has been said in regard to the city of 
 Norfolk under the heading of Harbor, Water Supply, Climate, Health, 
 Watering Places, City Credit, Cost of Living, Rates of Wages, Building 
 Material, Enterprises, General Trade, and Transportation, applies with 
 equal force to this city. 
 
 iians^mond Countu 
 
 Lies on the west side of Norfolk County, and, like that county, ex- 
 tends from the North Carolina line to Hampton Roads, being, round 
 numbers, thirty miles long by nineteen wide. It is watered by the 
 Nansemond river and other streams running into the James, and by 
 tributaries of the Blackwater. Number of acres of land, 259,394. Popu- 
 lation, 20,000. 
 
 The surface of Nansemond is nearly level, the soil a friable sandy 
 loam, a description of land now considered the best for general pur- 
 poses, the most profitable to work on account of economy of cultiva- 
 tion and adaptability to a great variety of crops. 
 
 Marl is abundant in the county, and is much used. This is the great 
 peanut section of the United States, and as lime is a necessity in the 
 production of peanuts this marl is very valuable, furnishing lime of ex- 
 cellent quality and in proper condition "on the hill." 
 
 Peanuts and cotton, corn, oats, and vegetables of all sorts (truck). 
 A large portion of the land is devoted to "trucking." Fine tobacco, 
 which has been, but is not now cultivated, would grow well on the thin- 
 est clay lands if fertilized, and the production of this county would 
 cover all the crops of the middle of the tempei'ate zone, from cotton to 
 potatoes and cabbage. 
 
 The potatoes of Nansemond have been long celebrated, and other 
 vegetables grow in equal perfection and ripen early, especially melons, 
 peas and tomatoes. Onions from the seed could, and will sometime, be 
 a large and profitable crop. Much of the time and capital of the farm- 
 ers of this county is devoted to trucking and market gardening. It has 
 its own thriving city, Suffolk, and Norfolk, Richmond and the Northern 
 markets for all its products. The result is that many of the farms look 
 like an aggregation of gardens. 
 
 Fish and oysters abound, and can be easily and cheaply transported 
 east, west, north and south of the county. Poultry raising is increasing, 
 and is profitable. There is yet much fine timber in this county, mostly 
 pine, cypress and juniper. Nansemond's interest in the Dismal Swamp 
 renders a lumber famine in her borders impossible. The wild animals, 
 bears, wildcats, deer, foxes, raccoons, oppossums, otters, muskrats, 
 squirrels, and hares, are mainly found in or near the Dismal Swamp. 
 Wild fowl: ducks, geese, swans, teel, in the waters; woodcock, larks, 
 plover, snipe, sora. reedbirds, in the marshes; and partridges, doves, 
 robins, blackbirds, etc., in the fields. 
 
 Number of public schools, 69 — white, 41; colored, 28. 
 
 Easy access to market is furnished by the Nansemond river, and the 
 steamers plying thereon, and by railroads to Norfolk and Portsmouth. 
 Churches are abundant, and well attended, all denominations being 
 represented. 
 
26 
 
 Average annual temperature about 58; average annual rainfall about 
 46 Inches. The county taxes are very low — 20 cents for county, and 5 
 cents for schools on the $100 worth of real and personal property. 
 
 Citij o! Sufiolk. 
 
 Suffolk, the county-seat of Nansemond county, is a busy and thriv- 
 ing place, the center of a large local trade. It is connected with Nor- 
 folk and Portsmouth, 19 miles by five railroads, and by river naviga- 
 tion, and is the terminus of the Suffolk and Carolina Railroad. It had 
 by the census of 1890, 3,354 inhabitants, which in 1898 has increased to 
 fully 6,000. 
 
 Suffolk is situated at the head of navigation of Nansemond river, 
 which is sufficiently deep at this point to admit vessels drawing four- 
 teen feet of water. The sanitary condition is equal to any city in the 
 State, as regards excellence. 
 
 From the railroad Suffolk does not show at its best; no one can 
 imagine in passing the size, beauty and comfort of the town. It has 
 fine churches, busy streets, elegant residences, active mills and facto- 
 ries, well-kept hotels, wide streets, beautiful promenades, and other 
 unmistakable evidences of commercial and social welfare. 
 
 Water — The city is well furnished with water from Lake Kilby, a 
 picturesque lake, about three-fourths of a mile distant. This water is 
 used for all purposes. It is one of the best systems in Virginia. 
 
 Climate — The mean annual temperature is 59.2, and the average 
 rainfall is 52.8, which is conclusive as to its desirability in the matter 
 of climate conditions, neither too hot or dry. Death rate about 16 per 
 1,000 per annum. 
 
 Churches — Nearly every Christian denomination is represented, the 
 places of worship are modern and well built structures, the people are 
 thoroughly church-going. The city is singularly free from evil in- 
 fluences, and its young men have few temptations to leave the paths of 
 rectitude. 
 
 Schools — In addition to two military, two female seminaries, and a 
 number of excellent private schools, the city has a first class free school 
 system. 
 
 Fire Department — The city fire department is thoroughly equipped 
 with modern appliances, which afford splendid protection to the prop- 
 erty owners and citizens generally. 
 
 Pursuits — The larger part of the population is engaged in manu- 
 facturing, oyster packing, and in enterprises generally. 
 
 The merchants are all prosperous, and do a good business in. all 
 lines. 
 
 Banking — The banking facilities are ample. The Farmer's Bank, 
 with a capital of $200,000, has a surplus of $100,000, and undivided profits 
 of $60,000. Recently subscriptions were started to found another bank, 
 and the sum of $50,000 was subscribed without trouble. 
 
 Postal Facilities — The post-office at Suffolk is rated as second class, 
 and twenty-six mails are received and dispatched daily. There are 
 twenty-one passenger trains each day, making connections for all parts 
 of the country. 
 
 Transportation — Among the great systems that pass through Suf- 
 folk may be enumerated: The Seaboard Air Line, the Norfolk and 
 Western Railway, the Atlantic Coast Line, the Atlantic and Danville 
 Railroad Company, and Southern Railway. It takes no wise head to 
 observe that the Manufuctiirrr's liicord is correct in saying: "It has 
 more and better transportation facilities than any town of the South." 
 
27 
 
 In addition to the above enumerated lines the Suffollc and Carolina 
 runs from Suffolk to the Chowan river, in North Carolina, this road 
 does a great lumber business, and really benefits the merchants as 
 much or more than any other. 
 
 The Old Dominion Steamship Company runs a daily boat on Nanse- 
 mond river between Suffolk and Norfolk. In the "trucking" season there 
 is usually one or two more lines added to accommodate the heavy ship- 
 ments. 
 
 Raw Materials— Is in abundance, within easy reach, and at low cost 
 of freight owing to the numerous lines of traffic. 
 
 Factory Sites can be had for the asking. Rents and other neces- 
 saries are low, land is cheap. 
 
 Markets are always filled with seasonable products of forest, field, 
 and stream, at reasonable prices. Few cities can compare with Suffolk 
 in variety of food products and prices of provisions. 
 
 Taxes and Insurance are low as in any city of its size and attrac- 
 tiveness. Merchants and other business and professional men are not 
 burdened with excessive rates in this line. 
 
 Farm Lands — A great portion of the surrounding country is splen- 
 did farming land, and with little manure, it can be made to produce as 
 well as any. There is no better place for grass growing and stock rais- 
 ing. Good farm lands can be bought for $5 to |25 per acre. 
 
 The farmer can have something to sell every month in the year. 
 No trouble with extreme heat or cold. No droughts, cyclone or bliz- 
 zards, therefore no time has to be lost by either farmer or manufacturer. 
 
 Hotels are fully equipped to care for the traveler and sojourner in 
 a comfortable manner at reasonable prices. 
 
 Street Car Lines pass through the main thoroughfare of the city. 
 
 10arttitck (tountgt 
 
 Though a small county in area, and the smallest in population, was 
 one of the eight original shires, and was densely peopled; there were in 
 this little county six parishes. It contains 42,766 acres. Population, 
 8,500. 
 
 The land is easily cultivated, and ever improvable, and there are 
 large deposits of excellent marl. Trucking and market gardening are 
 extending. Wild animals of the country are deer, fox, raccoon, squir- 
 rel, and hare. Beside the water fowls there are wild turkey, partridge, 
 woodcock and sora. Fish, oysters, and wild fowl are abundant. Poul- 
 try is increasing. The timber of this county consists mainly of oak, 
 pine, ash and gum. The surface is level, and the soil productive. 
 
 Monthly average temperature for twelve months, 59; rainfall, 46 
 inches. County taxes, 90 cents on $100 value of property for county ex- 
 penses and schools. The population of Warwick was, in 1880, only 
 2,264. Since that time the extension of the Chesapeake and Ohio Rail- 
 way to Newport News, in the southeastern angle of this county, has 
 made an immense difference in the status of Warwick, Newport News 
 having grown to be an important shipping point resorted to by ocean 
 steamers. This is, perhaps, the best coaling station on the continent; 
 and there is here a grain elevator of 1,750,000 bushels capacity, and 
 wharves on a grand scale, with depth of water to accommodate the 
 largest ships that float. 
 
 The "boom" at Newport News was not merely a "boom." Town lots 
 and farms in the vicinity have rapidly and steadily advanced in price, 
 and there are plain indications of a "coming" city, which will extend 
 
28 
 
 from Old Point Comfort to Newport News. Ship building is the great 
 industry, and is rapidly increasing. The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway 
 has already a line of ocean steamers from this point to Europe, which 
 makes Newport News not only a great coaling station, but a most im- 
 portant port for the exportation of grain and cattle. Another result is 
 the great increase in the production of truck and berries for the West- 
 ern markets by the fast freight lines established by the Chesapeake 
 and Ohio Railway. Churches of all religious denominations are to be 
 found in the county. The public school system is enlarging. There 
 are thirteen public schools — seven white, and six colored. 
 
 51sMt>|iort Ileitis. 
 
 Newport News is located in the right angle formed by the union of 
 the James river and the far famed Hampton Roads, it occupies an ele- 
 vation of 30 feet above tide, and has fine natural drainage, the point 
 made historic in this country by the first permanent English settle- 
 ment at Jamestown. Just a few miles above this place, of a colony of 
 one hundred and one, who landed in three ships, which were under the 
 charge of Captain Newport, after whom Newport News takes its name 
 It was incorporated January IC, 1896. A few years ago it was an open 
 field. Now it represents an investment of over $10,000,000, and its com- 
 merce may this year exceed $30,000,000. 
 
 CLIMATE. 
 
 The climate is salubrious, mild and equable; the blizzard, cyclone, 
 and extreme drought are unknown here, and out-door work can be done 
 the year round. 
 
 POPULATION. 
 
 The population of the city is estimated on a conservative basis to be 
 16,500. The population of Newport News is not composed of specula- 
 tors or adventurers, but of energetic, prosperous, law-abiding, hospi- 
 table, business people, who are here to stay because of the decided re- 
 ligious, social and industrial business advantages presented. 
 
 HIRTOKICAL. 
 
 Like other Virginia cities Newport News can lay claim to some his- 
 toric interest and dates the origin of its name back to the old colonial 
 days when the Virginia coast, and, especially the James river was the 
 Mecca for English settlers. Unlike most Virginia cities, however, there 
 is nothing left standing to-day that figured on the site of "Newport's 
 News" three hundred or even as late as a hundred years ago. Not a 
 building standing to-day was in evidence twenty years ago. The city 
 is practically newly constructed, and has all modern improvements. 
 
 When Captain John Smith returned to Jamestown in 1607. after 
 making an exploration of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, he 
 found only thirty-eight of his colony of settlers alive, the others having 
 been either murdered or succumbed to the inevitable through unavoid- 
 able privations. Just as despair seemed to be settling on the few sur- 
 vivors, Captain Newport arrived on his second visit to the James, 
 making a landing at the point where the Chesapeake and Ohio piers 
 now stand. 
 
 It will be of interest to know that the first colonists to land at New- 
 port News numbered 120, and, to use the words of Captain John Smith, 
 were made up chiefly of "goldsmiths and gentlemen." 
 
29 
 
 The news of the arrival of Newport with abundance of supplies was 
 sent to the Jamestown survivors by messenger and from that time on 
 the place where tlie English captain landed was known as "Newport's 
 News." 
 
 About twenty-five years ago Mr. Collis P. Huntington, visited the 
 present site of the city and at once became impressed with its wonderful 
 natural advantages as a seaport. In after years, when Mr. Huntington 
 gained control of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, he recollected the 
 many advantages that were awaiting development at the magnificent 
 harbor at the unknown village of Newport News, and determined to 
 make this point the deep water terminus of his far-reaching railway 
 system. 
 
 With the investment of Mr. Huntington's capital in this section, the 
 insignificant village commenced to assume the appearance of a town, 
 and with each succeeding year the population swelled materially and 
 there was gradually more evidence of wealth and liberal investment. 
 
 The growth of the new Virginia town was heralded abroad and it 
 enlarged with such rapidity that in 1890 it had a population of 3,500. 
 
 Dwellings and mercantile establishments were put up very rapidly 
 after that, and when the plant of the Newport News Shipbuilding and 
 Dry Dock Company, another of Mr. Huntington's investments, com- 
 menced active operation, the town was well on its way to the position to 
 which its many natural advantages entitled it. 
 
 We speak of magic cities in the South and West, but Newport News 
 is as magical as any of them; and a great deal more substantial than 
 most of them. 
 
 The past three years have been remarkably successful ones for the 
 city, and also for its enterprising merchants and business men. In 1892 
 there was a sudden activity or enlargement which at first was looked 
 upon as being rather too much on the order of a boom. The capital in- 
 vested, however, was amply backed by more and the substantial future 
 of Newport News was assured from that time. 
 
 The old appellation of Newport's News, which had held on since 
 the colonial days, was soon contracted to Newport News, after the 
 modern idea of fashioning names, and, when the seat of Warwick 
 county v/as incorporated as a city January 16, 1896, a chai'ter was 
 granted to Newport iMews and not Newport's News. 
 
 The plan of Newport News was laid out by the Old Dominion Land 
 Company, with broad streets running at right angles, so that the ele- 
 ments of light and air would always be abundant no matter how large 
 and crowded the city should be. The numbered streets run east and 
 west and the designated avenues north and south. Located on a high 
 bluff at the very mouth of the James river, the city stretches back over 
 a level territory at the southern extremity of the peninsula of Virginia, 
 as it is termed. It comprises about 12 square miles inside of its pres- 
 ent corporate limits. The growth of the city has been so rapid that the 
 next few years will see a necessary extension of the boundai'y lines. 
 
 The city is lighted by electricity and gas, furnished with water from 
 the Newport News Light and Water Company's large water works. 
 The city will shortly be drained by a $75,000 system of sewerage. 
 
 CITY FINANCES. 
 
 The bonded indebtedness of the eity is very small, and taxes $1.20 
 per $100 valuation, being less than any other city in the State. 
 
 BANKING FACILITIES. 
 
 The city has three banks — First National, Citizens and Marine and 
 Schmelz Brothers. There are security and trust companies, building 
 and loan associations and the like without number. There are a great 
 many real estate firms, all of which are doing a good business, and a 
 large number of fire and life insurance companies have local represen- 
 tatives. 
 
30 
 
 Her banking institutions are well and conservatively managed, af- 
 fording ample capital for conducting a large business responding to all 
 demands made upon them. 
 
 SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES. 
 
 In the matter of educational institutions Newport News is fully 
 abreast of the times. Its public school system, under the management 
 of a progressive board, has been improved until it is second to none in 
 the South. 
 
 The city council has just issued bonds to the amount of $50,000 to 
 provide suitable buildings for the public schools of the city. 'I'his sum 
 will be expended in the erection of a high school building in the central 
 portion of the city, a school building for the accommodation of the 
 pupils residing in the East End and one for the colored children. 
 
 It is expected that all of these buildings will be finished before the 
 beginning of the next session, which means that the school year 1898-'99 
 will be inaugurated under most encouraging auspices, and that in ad- 
 dition to a corps of excellent teachers the schools of Newport News 
 will have all the advantages which up-to-date buildings and appliances 
 can offer. 
 
 In addition to its public school system there is situated in the city 
 a military academy and a female seminary. 
 
 There are about fifteen churches in the city, composed of all the 
 leading denominations who own desirable edifices, which reflect great 
 credit on the people as church-goers. 
 
 EXPORTS AND IMPORTS 
 
 In 1893, Newport News was credited with $8,113,714 of exports, 
 while in 1898 (fiscal year) this had increased to $30,283,065, the im- 
 ports for the past year were nearly $2,000,000. These figures show the 
 magnificent condition of business at this port, and indicates the re- 
 markable impetus given to the export trade. 
 
 Newport News, "the Golden Gate of the Atlantic," as it is most ap- 
 propriately termed, to-day commands rank among the foremost of 
 America's commercial cities, where fifteen years ago it was practically 
 an unknown quantity. As an export point it is rapidly forging to the 
 front, and now gives promise of one day claiming the distinction to 
 which it is rightly entitled by reason of its naturally advantageous 
 situation, its connection with the great producing region of the west, 
 its magnificent water front and harbor capable of floating the very lar- 
 gest vessels at any stage of the tide, and its unrivalled facilities for ex- 
 porting the products of this great American nation — the distinction of 
 being the greatest seaport city on the Atlantic coast of the United 
 States. 
 
 It may seem like exaggeration to claim so much for a city of 
 16,500 inhabitants, with as yet only one railroad and but a half-mile of 
 shipping interests along the water front, but the record of the past and 
 present is the criterion for the success of the future, and Newport News 
 will one day assume the important commercial role for which it has 
 been especially fitted by nature. 
 
 Already the great export points on the Atlantic coast have felt the 
 effect of the progressive growth of this enterprising Virginia port. 
 
 The business of the port can be divided into three classes: Exports, 
 Imports and Coal Shipments. 
 
 Of these three branches the export trade is the greatest, and by far 
 the most important. To the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, however, 
 the port owes its magnificent record in the exportation of American 
 products and manufactures to the shores of the many foreign nations 
 where they bring good prices and are in constant demand. 
 
 Newport News is able to make this splendid export showing bv 
 reason Qf the unqualified facilities offered by the Chesapeake & Ohio 
 Railroad for the transportation of all articles in demand on the other 
 
3] 
 
 side, and the enterprise of the shipping companies which have ofBces 
 here and operate regular lines of steamers as well as chartered "tramp" 
 vessels to foreign ports in many parts of the world. 
 
 The total number of vessels loaded at the port .luring the" fiscal year 
 of 1883-'84 was 186. For the twelve months of 1897, the custom house 
 records show that the several shipping companies operating here 
 cleared 610 steamships, the fact that there were so many ships for 
 the past year and so few companies working here is the best evidence 
 that each of the latter is doing a tremendous business. 
 
 Among the countries with which Newport News trades are: 
 England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, 
 Netherlands, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Mexico, British "West Indies, Cuba, 
 Venezuela, Norway, Brazil, and Hor^duras. 
 
 Exports. Value. 
 
 Corn, 2,114,883 bushels $ 736,200 
 
 Wheat, 35,963 bushels 38,860 
 
 Flour, 283,735 bushels :W3.148 
 
 Oats, 420,027 bushels 117,608 
 
 Bran, 100 tons 1,500 
 
 Cron meal, 32,393 bushels 60,808 
 
 Oatmeal, 65,000 pounds 2,600 
 
 Rye, 33,000 bushels 16,500 
 
 Other breadstuffs 35,892 
 
 Cattle, 1,413 head 141,360 
 
 Horses, 40 heads 5,000 
 
 Argricultural implements 15,000 
 
 Bark 19,238 
 
 Bones 532 
 
 Cycles, parts of 31,000 
 
 Bituminous coal, 4,876 tons 11,178 
 
 Copper bars, 448,281 pounds 49,311 
 
 Cotton, 2,122 bales 52,604 
 
 Cotton waste, 14,700 pounds 441 
 
 Other cotton manufactures 1,383 
 
 Fertilizers, 12 tons 4,060 
 
 Peanuts 5,007 
 
 Glucose and grape sugar, 1,017,400 pounds 17,805 
 
 Cartridges 800 
 
 Hair 696 
 
 Pig iron, 352 tons 3,520 
 
 Steel castings 2,490 
 
 Iron and steel manufactures 3,722 
 
 Malt, 15,861 bushels 10,993 
 
 Slate 4,110 
 
 Cotton seed oil cake, 676,800 pounds 6,045 
 
 Linseed oil cake, 574,900 pounds 5,020 
 
 Lubricating oil, 9,000 gallons 900 
 
 Cotton seed oil, 191,560 pounds 47,890 
 
 Carbon 6,308 
 
 Paper 3,064 
 
 Hams, 141,694 pounds 12,817 
 
 Salt pork. 835,865 pounds 50,152 
 
 Lard, 1,573,853 pounds 78,693 
 
 Clover seed, 32,441 pounds 1,947 
 
 Timothy seed, 26,200 pounds 786 
 
 Soap, 1,820 pounds 55 
 
 Starch, 1,368,800 pounds 34,215 
 
 Leaf tobacco, 603,305 pounds 48.265 
 
 Logs 61,248 
 
 Boards 220,196 
 
 Shooks 1,519 
 
32 
 
 Exports. Value. 
 
 Staves, 1,699,334 42,321 
 
 Doors ; ; ; ; 10^596 
 
 Furniture 130 
 
 Mouldings 1,987 
 
 Other wood manufactureres 7 454 
 
 Zinc '29 
 
 Other exports not enumerated 6,456 
 
 Total $3,431,719 
 
 For February of this year the exports were valued at $3,431,719, as 
 quoted above. This was the largest February record in the history of 
 the port, and in addition to being much heavier than January of this 
 year, was an increase of nearly $1,500,000 over February of 1897. 
 
 Before dismissing the subject of exports, it will be well to note the 
 large increase that is being made with each successive month, and also 
 the prospects for a much larger valuation for 1898 than that of last year. 
 
 IMPORTS. 
 
 The port not only enjoys a large export trade, its import business 
 shows up very conspicuously and nets quite a handsome sum each 
 year to the United States. Of course, the figures representing im- 
 port valuations are not nearly as large as those in the export column. 
 This is to be expected, as nearly all of the companies located here de- 
 vote their attention only to shipments to foreign ports. The Chesa- 
 peake & Ohio steamships and those of the Furness and the Phoenix 
 lines are about the only ones which make a regular business of bring- 
 ing to Newport News return cargoes from English, German and Swed- 
 ish ports. 
 
 The total value of all the imports for the year 1897 was a trifle over 
 $3,000,000. Of this amount duty was collected on $1,287,719, which was 
 the value of "consumption articles." 
 
 During the past year 197 foreign vessels brought cargoes to this 
 community. 
 
 The enormity of the import business done through this port can be 
 better conceived when it is known that for the past year the duties and 
 fees, etc., collected at the custom house aggregated $219,626.61. 
 
 These collections included duties, tonnage, dunes, fines, night ser- 
 vices of inspectors, collector's fees, emigrant fees, and bonded ware- 
 house fees. 
 
 COAL. 
 
 The largest coal shipping port in the United States is Newport 
 News. Coal is being dumped at the Chesapeake & Ohio piers at present 
 at the rate of over 2,000,000 tons per annum. 
 
 This coal is secured by the Chesapeake & Ohio in the Kanawha 
 and New River districts in West Virginia, where the very best steam 
 coal obtainable is mined. The coal is transported to Newport News 
 direct in cars, built epecially for this trade, over the tracks of the Chesa- 
 peake & Ohio Railroad. On arriving here, the cars are pushed up on 
 the high coal piers, as necessity demands, and from these lofty trestles, 
 the fuel is dumped into steamships, schooners and barges. 
 
 Newport News is the mid-Atlantic coaling station of the naval ves- 
 sels of the north Atlantic squadron, and from these a large bunker coal 
 patronage is received. A great many tramp steamers, carrying cargoes 
 from southern ports, stop here for coal to last them on their trips. The 
 steam coal is sent north principally, and south occasionally, in schoon- 
 ers and barges, for use on railroads, and for manufacturing purposes. 
 
 While the great coal traffic at this port is much larger than that of 
 any other city, it is understood that the business will shortly be in- 
 creased doubly by fulfilment of the terms of a contract between the 
 Chesapeake & Ohio and the Atlantic Transportation Company for the 
 
33 
 
 shipment of 2,000,000 tons of coal annually for five years. This from 
 the local piers is to be dumped into the company's twenty-six barges 
 from time to time, and will be shipped to American and neighboring 
 foreign ports. 
 
 During the year 1897 the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Company 
 loaded 501 schooners and 391 barges. 
 
 TBANSPORTATION FACILITIES. 
 
 Ships sail daily for Liverpool, London, and Glasgow, and for the 
 continental ports of Hamburg, Bremen and Rotterdam. The Old Do- 
 minion Steamship Co. and the Merchants and Miners Transportation 
 Co.,with steamers excellent in all appointments and handsomely equip- 
 ped, afford comfortable passage to Baltimore, New York, Providence 
 and Boston. 
 
 The Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad system with its stone ballasted 
 track and most modern equipment furnishes safe, direct and comforta- 
 ble transit to the cities of the West. 
 
 Newport News with its environments, its railroad and steamship 
 connections, its direct trade both foreign and domestic, and the many 
 industries already established and projected, not only precludes the 
 possibility of retrogression, but points logically to rapid and splendid 
 progress. How can it be otherwise when everything is here abundant 
 and cheap to tempt the investment of capital. Cheap transportation 
 cheap raw material, and cheap fuel, close proximity to the cotton belt 
 and great tobacco regions of the country, and nearest to the great iron 
 and coal fields and finest forests in the State. 
 
 Newport News is not lacking in transportation facilities. 
 
 Situated on Hampton Roads, the magnificent gateway of the Old 
 Dominion, the city has a natural harbor that is familiar to all sea- 
 faring men, and any ship, no matter how large, can steam into port 
 and drop anchor alongside the wharves. Owing to the indentation of 
 the Atlantic coast line at this point, Newport News is nearer the open 
 sea on the one hand and to the interior centers of population and pro- 
 duction on the other, than any of the Atlantic ports. The harbor is a 
 natural refuge, in all conditions of wind and weather, of incoming ves- 
 sels seeking safety from the furies of Neptune and a raging sea. 
 
 Little was known of Newport News a decade ago. Then it was a 
 hamlet. To-day is a flourishing seaport town. Here grain, cattle, flour 
 and miscellaneous provisions are loaded on steamers for hungry Europe. 
 A hamlet a decade ago, and now one of the business marts of trade on 
 the Atlantic coast. 
 
 As the port grew and business increased, steamship lines began to 
 touch at Newport News, until to-day vessels flying flags of sixteen dif- 
 ferent lines tie up at the wharves here and discharge and load cargoes. 
 Every facility is offered for loading and unloading ships. The docks 
 are large and spacious and equipped with modern appliances. Within 
 a few feet of the water's edge is the mammoth grain elevator, with a 
 capacity of 1,750,000 bushels. Grain conveyors stretch out to the docks 
 and cereals are poured into the holds of the ocean freighters. 
 
 The following is a list of the steamship lines and vessels that sail 
 regularly from Newport News for foreign ports: 
 
 Union Line, for Hamburg— Steamers Albano, Salerno, Pisa, Catania. 
 
 Lord Line, for Belfast and Dublin— Steamers Bengore Head, Lord 
 Londonberry. 
 
 Phoenix Line, for Antwerp— Steamers St. Marnock, St. Enoch. 
 
 Forenede Virginia-Baltic Line, for Copenhagen and Reval— Steam- 
 ers Xenia, Arkansas. 
 
 Donaldson Line, for Glasgow— Steamers Indrani, Indralema. 
 
 Oranje Line, for Rotterdam and Amsterdam— Steamer Aldborough. 
 
 Chesapeake & Ohio Steamship Line, for London and Liverpool- 
 Steamers Chicahominy, Kanawha, Rappahannock, Greenbrier, Appo- 
 mattox and Shenandoah. 
 
 Caledonian Line, for Leith— Steamer Mendota. 
 
 Avon Line, for Bristol — Two steamers. 
 
United States Steamship Company's Line, for London — Steamer 
 
 Eidsvoid. 
 
 The following steamers sail regularly from Newport News: 
 
 Old Dominion Steamship Line, for New York, daily. 
 
 The Merchant and Miners Transportation Company, three times a 
 week for Providence; four times a week for Boston; daily for Balti- 
 more. 
 
 The Virginia Navigation Company's steamer Pocahontas, for Rich- 
 mond and way landings, via James river, every other day. 
 
 The steamer S. A. McCall, for Petersburg and way landings, every 
 other day, via James and Appomattox rivers. 
 
 The steamer Louise, connecting with the Chesapeake & Ohio Rail- 
 way, makes two trips daily to Norfolk and Portsmoutn. 
 
 In addition to these hundreds of schooners, barges and coastwise 
 steamers engaged in the coal trade come here annually, to say nothing 
 of the barks and craft of like rig that load staves for Germany and 
 Spain, or the many tramp steamers that carry freight to the United 
 Kingdom. 
 
 Newport News has but one railway system — the Chesapeake & 
 Ohio — but it stretches its iron way far into the North, South, West and 
 Northwest, connecting with other railways that thread the country. 
 This is the terminus of this great railway. From the far West freight 
 is brought over its trunk lines and loaded in the company's steamers 
 for London and Liverpool. All of the internal freight from here is 
 hauled by the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad. This road's passenger fa- 
 cilities are unexcelled. Tickets are sold to any station In the United 
 States. 
 
 The city is connected with Hampton and Old Point by the Chesa- 
 peake & Ohio Railroad, which gives hourly service, and by the Newport 
 News, Hampton and Old Point Electric Railway, at which place daily 
 connection is made for Washington and Baltimore by steamers, and 
 New York by N. Y. P., and N. R. R. Other lines will be built in the 
 near future. 
 
 The rapid and continuous growth of the shipping interest has been a 
 surprise as well as a source of irritation to seaboard cities less fav- 
 ored by natural advantages. 
 
 During the business depression of the last few years, these indus- 
 tries have been in operation furnishing employment to a large number 
 of men, while around their wharves and piers many workmen are kept 
 busy discharging and loading coastwise and foreign ships. 
 
 DEVELOPED INDUSTRIES. 
 
 Of the industries of Newport News, the shipbuilding plant in the 
 north end of the city ranks first. The immense plant represents an out- 
 lay of $7,000,000. The Shipbuilding and Dry Dock plant, the most mod- 
 ern, extensive and complete in America, is not only the pride of New- 
 port News, but also of the State and Southland. 
 
 The dry dock is the only one on this side of the Atlantic that can 
 accommodate the ocean greyhounds of the International Navigation 
 Company. The St. Paul, New York and Paris have all been docked 
 here. 
 
 The record made by the La Grande Duchess, the Creole, El Sud, El 
 Nort, El Rio, and El Sid, the finest specimens of freight and passenger 
 steamships in the American Merchant Marine, give evidence of what 
 can be done by American skilled labor. The gunsboats Wilmington, 
 Helena and Nashville were built here, and won large premiums for 
 their builders. 
 
 The battleships Kearsage, Kentucky and Illinois, now being built, 
 when completed will add luster to the bright record already made 
 by these yards. 
 
 Over 3,500 skilled mechanics find remunerative employment with 
 the plant, and the large contracts (government and private) already 
 gecured give the assurance of continuous employment for years to come. 
 
35 
 
 The Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad has eight large piers along the 
 water front at the southern extremity of the city and adjacent to these 
 is this great corporation's grain elevator, which is an industi'y in itself. 
 The C. & O. yard is more than a mile in length and contains 33 miles of 
 railroad track. The road does an immense passenger, export and coal 
 business. 
 
 The great grain elevator is operated day and night, about two hun- 
 dred car loads of grain passing through it daily, and loading a vessel 
 every twenty-four hours. The last public statement given as to the 
 number of cars handled daily at this port was 1,119, the largest num- 
 ber ever handled in one day. The commercial key to the North Ameri- 
 can Continent is Hampton Roads, and the bulk of the grain exports of 
 this country, not to mention other exports, will eventually be made 
 from Newport News. 
 
 The large brass foundry of the Caskey Brothers is one of the city's 
 big industries and is located in the north end near the shipyard. All of 
 the brass work for the shipyard is executed in this establishment. The 
 company also has a large outside custom. 
 
 The Peninsula Electric Light & Power Company, having its offices 
 and plant between Vv'^arwick avenue and the railroad and Twenty- 
 fourth and Twenty-sixth streets, furnishes all of the electric power and 
 artificial ice for the city. 
 
 The Newport News Gas Company has only recently put in a $65,000 
 plant and has been furnishing illuminating and heating gas for sevei'al 
 months. 
 
 The Newport News Knitting Mill, located on Thirty-third street, 
 near the railroad, has a large custom and turns out work of the first 
 quality. There are many other smaller industries, such as lumber es- 
 tablishments, brick yards, iron and marine repairing works, stone 
 yards, etc. 
 
 Every description of retail business to be found anywhere in this 
 country is carried on in Newport News. There are also wholesalers in 
 a number of lines. 
 
 The different industrial plants here give employment to four or 
 five thousand men. The amount expended in such enterprises aggre- 
 gates $12,000,000, and negotiations are now pending for other large es- 
 tablishments to locate here 
 
 ' SUGGESTED ENTERrRISES. 
 
 The many natural advantages enjoyed by this locality offer pecu- 
 liar attractiveness for industries such as Cotton Mills, Knitting Mills, 
 Shoe Factories, Wood-working Plants, Wagon and Carriage Works, 
 Crab, Oyster and Fish Packing Establishments. 
 
 The increase which the city is destined to have in the immediate 
 future will be from the large influx of skilled mechanics and other wage 
 earners. 
 
 ADVANTAGES CLAIMED. 
 
 The best markets in close proximity having direct communication 
 by water, as well as rail, with the great cities of Baltimore, Philadel- 
 phia, New York, Boston, etc. 
 
 There -is no section of the country where the avocations of a farmer 
 are so diversified and where a living can be realized from so many dif- 
 ferent sources, for not only can be grown here almost every kind of 
 crop, including the many branches of trucking, but if the farmer pre- 
 fers he can make a living from the river in the summer by fishing and 
 crabbing and in the winter by oystering. This locality is having a 
 steady influx of Northern farmers with means to buy their homes, and 
 Northei-n gentlemen of standing and means, who by their prudent in- 
 vestments are making money. Many of them occupying the most 
 prominent public positions. A majority of the town council are North- 
 ern men, and the great $7,000,000 dry dock and shipyard, the $1,000,000 
 
36 
 
 grain elevator, the $75,000 brass aud iron works, the $600,000 light and 
 water company, the $175,000 electric railway company, the $20,000 ice 
 factory, and others were built with Northern capital, and have North- 
 ern men at the head of them. And many of their successful bankers 
 and merchants came from the North. Also many of the most pros- 
 perous farmers. 
 
 Oyster beds and fishing grounds lie near by, and are so extensive 
 as to insure industries in that line, while a rich productive back coun- 
 try well adapted to early truck raising, and the sugar beet, supplies pro- 
 ducts for shipment and manufacture. 
 
 In close and direct touch with the railways to the marts of the 
 "Western Empire and the natural outlet for the products of an immense 
 area extending South, and Northwest, and the natural receiving point 
 for distributing supplies over the same territory. Newport News puts 
 aside the draperies of the past and steps out upon that broad and far- 
 reaching plane by which she will soon become independent and self- 
 assertive 
 
 Having obtained the nucleus by which she may continue the phe- 
 nomenal growth already obtained, her industries now established, 
 coupled with her many possibilities, advantages, and resources, offer 
 wonderful inducements for the capitalist, investor and homeseekers. 
 
 It is estimated that at the present time there are 2,500 buildings of 
 all descriptions in Newport News. This is an unusually large number 
 for the size of the city. 
 
 The government expects to erect a public building here in the near 
 future, and the city will build a new high school, central school, and 
 a combined jail and emergency hospital. 
 
 In black and white the business of the port of Newport News is 
 given. The facts and figures speak for themselves. Newport News is 
 indeed the "Golden Gate of the Atlantic" and the "Liverpool of Vir- 
 ginia." It is destined to be the Liverpool of America." Time will tell. 
 
 JEHxabetlt ^ittj onountg 
 
 Was one of the eight original shires into which Virginia was divided in 
 1634. Its form is nearly a square of seven miles on a side. It lies on 
 Hampton Roads, Chesapeake Bay and Back river, and is intersected 
 by several creeks. The surface is level and the soil fertile, some of 
 it highly so. Number of acres of land, 29,897. Population, 16,168. 
 
 The climate of Elizabeth City is delightful, the average tempera- 
 ture being 75 in summer, and 44 in winter. 
 
 No cyclone or blizzards ever come here, and danger of epidemic 
 diseases is seldom feared. 
 
 The supply of fish and oysters of the finest quality is almost in- 
 exhaustible. The fisheries take quantities of shad, trout, bluefish, bay 
 mackerel, etc. Elizabeth City is penetrated and almost surrounded by 
 navigable waters, and is in daily communication with Norfolk, Rich- 
 mond, Baltimore, Washington, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston, 
 by regular lines of steamers to each of these cities, affording great 
 advantages to truck and fruit growers. The Chesapeake and Ohio 
 Railroad has its terminus at Old Point Comfort, so well known for the 
 grand fortress located there, and the Hygeia and Chamberlain Hotels 
 now resorted to by thousands as a winter sanitarium and luxurious 
 resting place, while m summer it is equally popular for its breezes 
 and salt baths. It has stations at Hampton and Phoebus, and the 
 
37 
 
 Hampton and Old Point Electric Railroad, and the Hampton and New- 
 port News Electric Railroad, furnishes full facilities for the people. 
 
 Public roads are very much improved. 
 
 County taxation: 35 cents for county purposes, 18 cents for county 
 schools, 2 cents for district schools, 18 cents for roads, making 73 cents 
 on the $100 valuation of property. 
 
 Citg 0f Matnpton. 
 
 Hampton, the county seat, is a thriving town of about 5,000 inhabi- 
 tants. Here is located the Hampton Normal and Collegiate Institute 
 for the training and education of Negro and Indian students, with ac- 
 commodation for six hundred. Near Hampton is also located the 
 National Soldiers Home containing 2,500 disabled volunteer soldiers, 
 with beautiful grounds and buildings. Number of public schools, 31; 
 white, 14; colored, 17. Churches — Baptist, 4; Methodist, 4; Episcopal, 
 1; Presbyterian, 1; Disciples, 1; Catholic, 1. Total, 12. 
 
 The manufactories consist of a shoe factory, iron foundry, sash and 
 blind factory, and an oil factory. 
 
 The town of Hampton is beautifully situated on a branch of Hamp- 
 ton Roads, a harbor full of interesting associations, both local and 
 national. It is situated on the southern extremity of Virginia's great 
 peninsula, eighty miles from Richmond, and connected with that city 
 by the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad. It is fifteen miles from Norfolk 
 and Portsmouth; Old Point is only two miles distant. 
 
 Hampton has exceptionally complete transportation facilities, rail- 
 way and steamship lines, forming direct connection with the large 
 cities of the North and South. 
 
 Having ample banking facilities, Hampton is also particularly 
 favored by having several institutions that expend large sums of money 
 annually for buildings and the necessaries of life and labor. The Na- 
 tional Home alone expends $1,500,000 during the year. 
 
 Accommodation for travelers and guests is provided by good hotels, 
 good water is abundant, and a fine system of water-works is in opera- 
 tion. Several religious denominations have handsome churches. The 
 Episcopals boast of old St. John's church, which was built, it is said, in 
 1660; it has been repaired and fitted up for use, and is very beautiful. 
 
l^fjc Seaboard ^ir Xinc* 
 
 A Sketch of this Progressive System, its Resources and 
 Methods of Operation. 
 
 The development work and train service, now in effect by the Man- 
 agement of the Seaboard Air Line has never been exceeded by any rail- 
 road in the Southern States, and in some respects it is without parallel 
 in any other section of the Union. In its equipment, train service, and 
 passenger and freight tariffs the road has shown an unceasing inter- 
 est in, and consideration for, the welfare of its patrons, and at the same 
 time has, by every means at its command — some of them new and ex- ' 
 ceedingly novel in their application — sought to bring about a betterment 
 in the condition of those living along its line. It is aiding in the de- 
 velopment of the resources in its territory, and is striving to bring to 
 the favorable consideration of the people abroad the exceptionally nu- 
 merous opportunities presented by this section of country — the attrac- 
 tions and inducements it offers for the pleasant and profitable opera- 
 tions of the industrial worker, the capitalist, the agriculturist, the 
 stock-raiser, the fruit-grower, truck-gardener, etc. 
 
 ADVERTISING ITS ADVANTAGES. 
 
 By entensive advertising, by the wide distribution of its own litera- 
 ture throughout the entire country, by object lessons in the way of 
 interesting exhibits at Fairs and Expositions, by the operations of a 
 thoroughly organized immigration and industrial department, by the 
 thorough attention of all employees to both passenger and freight ser- 
 vice, there is a constant effort to secure and hold the patronage and 
 good-will of its patrons, and to draw men and money to this territory. 
 The establishment of experimental farms, with thoroughbred stock, all 
 modern labor-saving machines and appliances, together with the in- 
 auguration of an Industrial Training School on Wheels, operated over 
 the entire line exhibiting the improved methods and implements of 
 farming, show a most practical and helpful interest in those who are 
 located along the line. 
 
 RESOURCES OF THE TERRITORY. 
 
 The Seaboard Air Line now has the geographical advantage of be- 
 ing the shortest line from the South Atlantic ports and interior points 
 in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, to Portsmouth and Nor- 
 folk, Va. The company's immense wharves and warehouses at Ports- 
 mouth have been improved and enlarged for the convenience and dis- 
 patch in handling the large freight shipments through this port. In 
 addition to the main lines from Portsmouth to Atlanta, Ga., 599 miles, 
 and Wilmington to Rutherfordton, N. C, 310 miles, there are numerous 
 branch roads, consisting mostly of short mileages, which afford com- 
 munication with interior points and act as feeders of business for the 
 main line. The branch roads consist of the Roanoke and Tar River R. 
 R., from Boykins, Va., to Lewiston, N. C, 36 miles; the Durham and 
 
39 
 
 Northern Ry., from Henderson to Durham, N. C, 41 miles, traversing 
 the bright-leaf tobacco belt; the Louisburg R. R., from Franklinton to 
 Louisburg, N. C, 10 miles; the Pittsboro R. R., from Moncure to Pitts- 
 boro, N. C, 12 miles; two branches from Hamlet, N. C, one to Cheraw, 
 S. C, 18 miles, and the other to Gibson, N. C, 10 miles; and the Ellen- 
 boro-Henrietta branch, 6 miles, in Western North Carolina, which con- 
 nects the extensive Cotton Mills of Henrietta with the Wilmington-Hen- 
 rietta, or Carolina Central Line. 
 
 Embraced in the section covered by these main and branch lines 
 will be found almost every variety of soil known in the South, and is 
 adapted to almost any and every form of agriculture and horticulture 
 known to the tiller of the soil. Located in this section is the very heart 
 of the cotton-growing and cotton-manufacturing sites of the South, 
 "the future situs of cotton-manufacturing of the world," it has been 
 pronounced; here are water powers aggregating more than 1,000,000 of 
 horse-power, awaiting development and practical and profitable use; 
 here are enormous timber supplies, and practically unlimited quantities 
 of superior building stone; in addition, many minerals are found, and 
 are profitably mined, ranging from coal to gold; here is every variety 
 of climate, from the soft drowsy summer of the Southern sea-coast, to 
 the cool bracing air of the cloud-capped mountains. The Seaboard Air 
 Line system now comprises 957 miles of track, all but 85 miles of which 
 are owned by the Company. Within this scope of territory a wide 
 variety of industries may be engaged in. Along the coast the fishermen 
 and oystermen find abundant opportunities for operation on a commer- 
 cial basis; next in order comes the truck-gardener, with fortunes made 
 and to be made, which has been exemplified by those who are now en- 
 gaged in this business; next the tobacco grower, the fruit raiser, the 
 vinter, and further along the line the stock-raiser and general agricul- 
 turist, all of whom are surrounded by the most favorable conditions for 
 the highest kind of success. All along the line the cotton-planter flour- 
 ishes, and cotton manufacturing is conceded to be so profitable that new 
 mills are started every year. Only a small portion of the timber supply 
 is utilized in the production of the local manufactured articles, the 
 largest part of the timber being shipped away in the rough-sawn state, 
 and the hard-wood supplies are as yet almost untouched. The numer- 
 ous water-powers are undeveloped except at infrequent intervals, or at 
 best are only partially utilized. There are thousands of acres of the 
 finest granite and brown sand-stone, as per reports and examinations of 
 experts. The tilling lands along the S. A. L., range in price from $2 or 
 $3 per acre for uncultivated swamp or mountain lands, to $250 per acre 
 for the finest truck farms in the immediate vicinity of Portsmouth. A 
 sure fortune is within the reach of an enterprising man with a mode- 
 rate capital, if he properly invests it in the rich lands around Ports- 
 mouth and vicinity, so close to the markets of Norfolk and the East. 
 Grapes are native to all Eastern North Carolina, some of the standard 
 varieties of to-day having originated there, and in this section are 
 located some of the most successful grape-growers and vinters in the 
 South. The bare sandy soil of the famous long-leaf pine section, was 
 long deemed of small value for cultivation, but this light, sandy soil 
 has of late years come largely into favor for grape, peach and other 
 small fruit growing, and all along the S. A. L. are acres of grapes, 
 peaches and berries, of the most prolific growth, a number of them, 
 such as the Van Lindley Nurseries near Southern Pines, N. C, contain- 
 ing hundreds of acres in one body. 
 
 FREIGHT AND PASSENGER TRAIN SERVICE. 
 
 Having provided superior facilities for handling business, both 
 freight and passenger, and having secured a remarkably unanimous and 
 out-spoken sentiment of friendliness by their treatment of the patrons 
 of the road, the S. A. L. is now even more strongly establishing its 
 claim to the esteem of the people of the South, since its train service is 
 
40 
 
 operate with so much comfort and convenience to the traveling public. 
 The "S. A. L. Steamer Express" leaving Portsmouth daily, including 
 Sunday, 9:20 A. M., and arriving at 5:20 P. M., is equipped in first- 
 class passenger style, all conveniences for passengers being provided. 
 This train carries Pullman Buffet Drawing Room Sleepers through to 
 Nashville, Tenn., via Atlanta, Ga., and the "old battle-field route" 
 through Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. The 
 Famous "Atlanta Special," leaving Portsmouth at 8:45 P. M. daily, in- 
 cluding Sunday, and arriving at 7:25 A. M., carries Pullman Sleepers 
 from Portsmouth to Chester, S. C. (Breakfast station), and at this point 
 regular Pullman Sleepers can be taken through to Atlanta, Ga. Both 
 of these trains make connection at Portsmouth with steamer lines to 
 and from the North and East. The Fast Freight Schedules to the 
 South and Southwest are unsurpassed. Shipments leaving Portsmouth 
 9:15 P. M., arrive at Durham, N. C, 7:32 next morning, Raleigh 5:30 A. 
 M., Atlanta, Ga., 5:00 A. M., second morning Augusta 9:00 A. M. The 
 largest of increased shipments and kindly expressions from shippers 
 from all over the country is an evidence of the very satisfactory service 
 given all business. 
 
 Such energy and enterprise should be upheld and encouraged by 
 the people of the South, especially by those living on the immediate 
 line of the road, since the success of these enterprises will result to the 
 good of all located within its reach. 
 
 ^fx^sap^aU^ and Cf^fito ^mtong* 
 
 Through the Most Picturesque Regions of America, the 
 Virginias and the Battle-Fields. 
 
 No other route between the Atlantic Ocean and the Central States 
 can compare with the Chesapeake & Ohio in wealth of scenic attrac- 
 tions. Every portion possess peculiar and individual charms. One, 
 because the traveler views a land where the hardy colonists first strove 
 to gain a foothold in the new world, where the primeval savage was 
 first overcome, where the life and manners of the mother country found 
 their closest counterpart, and where the great leaders of the greatest 
 movement for freedom the world has ever known were born and raised 
 the cry of liberty. Another, because it has been the theater of two 
 wars, the battle-ground of great armies, the memory of whose confiicts 
 will last as long as history itself; and a third, because it gives the trav- 
 eler glimpses and broad views of mountain and valley scenery unsur- 
 passed anywhere on the American continent for picturesque loveliness 
 and startling grandeur. 
 
 The train service of the line is famous. 
 
 The entire equipment is new, and furnished with every appliance 
 for safety, comfort, and luxury. The train is painted a bright orange — 
 the Company's standard color — from front to rear, and presents a strik- 
 ingly handsome appearance. 
 
 Along the line of the Chesapeake & Ohio are situated many of the 
 well-known health and social resorts of the Blue Ridge and Allegha- 
 nies — the Virginia Hot Springs, Warm Springs, Healing Springs, Rock- 
 bridge Alum, Greenbrier White Sulphur, Red Sulphur, Salt Sulphur, 
 
41 
 
 is, beside, the center of a charming country. For the accommodation 
 of the constantly increasing numbers of visitors, a beautiful hotel has 
 recently been constructed, which, towering palace-like before them as 
 they alight from the "F. F. V.," dispels all doubts as to the fare await- 
 ing them. Built upon a knoll overlooking the town, the "New Inter- 
 mont" is a striking example of modern hotel architecture, and is fully 
 equipped with every device necessary to the well-being of the luxu- 
 riously inclined tourist of this comfort-loving age. The view from the 
 "New Intermont" is beautiful and inspiring. 
 
 A short distance west of Covinton, on the main line of the Chesa- 
 peake & Ohio, is Alleghany, which derives its importance from the fact 
 that it is the point at which all tourists visiting the Sweet Chalybeate 
 Springs or the Old Sweet Springs, leave the train. The latter place, 
 Sweet Springs, has had its pleasures sung and its glories recited for 
 generations. There is perhaps no one place among the great number of ■ 
 resorts along the route of the Chesapeake & Ohio so dear to the hearts 
 of so many, so loved by those who, season after season, in youth and 
 old age, have steadily returned to "dear Old Sweet." 
 
 GREENBRIER WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 There is no other place where any one may get so full a view into 
 social life of the South as at this resort of the gallantry and the beauty 
 of so many generations. The buildings are in the old Colonial style, 
 and in their spacious halls or on their broad piazzas one experiences 
 all that has given Southern society its distinctive character. The 
 Springs are situated in Greenbrier County, W. Va., in a most beautiful 
 valley. The Chesapeake & Ohio Railway has a station almost at the 
 doors of the hotel, but far enough removed not to mar the beauty of the 
 vast lawn, which is shaded by majestic oaks and maples, and which 
 terminates at the superb fountain, whence flow daily 50,000 gallons of 
 the famous water. The valley is like a well-kept park, and the drives 
 and walks run through splendid groves of forest trees. The surround- 
 ing mountains are among the grandest in the Alleghanies, their peaks 
 towering above the clouds. The medicinal virtues of the waters are 
 world-renowned, and have been tested since 1788. From that date till 
 the present day they have used with great benefit by thousands in 
 various diseases, the distinct medical influences of the water being 
 cathartic, diuretic, and alterative. In dysepepsia, jaundice, malaria, 
 hay fever, and especially liver disease, it is a specific. The sulphur 
 baths for gout, scrofula, and various forms of skin diseases are attended 
 with almost immediate relief. The cottage system, with its pretty, 
 home-like surroundings, enables visitors to live in a whirl of gaiety or 
 the utmost privacy, as their wishes may dictate. During the season, 
 beside the nightly balls, there are several grand, fancy and masquerade 
 balls, which add to the amusement of the guests. The cottages, which 
 are a hundred in number, being a part of the Grand Hotel, make it the 
 largest hotel at any American summer resort. The entire property now 
 has a thorough and complete system of sewerage, and the natural drain- 
 age is all that could be desired. This, with a soil underlaid with gravel 
 and shale, makes the place noted for its dryness and healthfulness. 
 Marked improvements have been made in the hotel appointments, the 
 cottages, and the bathing establishment. Special attention is given to 
 the cuisine, and the social feature made one of the attractions of the 
 place. 
 
^McjnJ^ Danjy^^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 jji 
 
 n 
 
 Direct Line Between 
 
 "7 A m 
 
 iJUUfi, 
 
 ANTA 
 
 m A AND ALL POIHTS SOUTH 
 AND SOUTHWEST.,...^ 
 
 IPcnetrattiuj the Bri^bt tobacco Belt of IDlrginia 
 auD IRortb Carolina* 
 
 •THH ONLY LINE REACHING' 
 
 * BUFFALO LITHIfl SPRINGS, ♦ 
 
 VIRGINIA'S FAMOUS HEALTH RESORT, 
 
 Connecting at Norfolk, for Old Point, Virginia Beach, 
 
 AND WITH ALL RAILROADS AND STEAMSHIP LINES DIVERGING 
 
 r5 For All Points North or East. S- 
 
 The Tidewater terminus of the ma'ui. line of tlbe AtlauUc & Danville is West Norfolk, 
 situated on the EHzaheth. river; the Western terminus is Danville, Va., a thriving citt/ of 
 about '25,000 inhutntants, and the largest hriglit fohueco market in the world. 
 
 The principal commodities raised along the line are Tobacco, Cotton, Peanuts, 
 'Truck, etc. The cinuitrg is liigh and rolling, and the land is suitable for the cultivation 
 of all cerecd products, and easily drained. There are a number of desirrdile locations 
 on wldch factories and other enterprises can be located. 
 
 CHAS. O. MAINS, 
 
 General. Manager, 
 
 WM. H. TAYLOR, 
 
 Traffic Manager. 
 
H ©wner of tbc 
 3 ^Famous 
 
 Seaside IRcSOlt 
 
 ...SOUTHERN RAILROAD../ 
 
 Zhc TRailioab. 
 
 B /IftoDern StanDarp (Bauge Xine, well bal- 
 lasted, thoroughly drained, presenting one of the 
 — ■ safest highways in the East, perfect passeil* 
 
 Qcx Equipment, Complete anO JEfticient Service, iStmch G:ime! The run 
 
 between Norfolk and America's Famous Seaside Resort, a distance of eighteen 
 miles, is made in twenty-five minutes, on through Express Trains. Through Car 
 and Train Service has been arranged with all connections, thus affording an 
 excellent interchange of party business. 
 
 111ltl*/^tt^t<3i *fi^/><a/*K "The Famous Ocean Resort of America, situ- 
 V/ilijUlla JUwaCU* ated directly on the Atlantic Ocean, and 
 
 ] being the oiilg \Dirc}inia resort so favoreO, 
 
 pre-eminently the most popular because nature, foreseeing a coming need, and 
 working with an intelligent purpose, has left a beautiful beach of many miles. 
 
 'i^'^^^Y 
 
 li 
 
 \Lhe princess Hnne. vJS'ia'BeSS feutLnrS 
 
 road. 21 modern f^otcl maintaineO 
 
 in true metropolitan stgle. perfect in appointments; superior service; 
 
 modern appliances; electric lighted; exquisite furnishings; large and elegant 
 rooms for public and private conferences. Its location is in the very heart of the 
 finest fruit and vegetable region in America; its close proximity to the sea insures 
 an abundance of fresh garden products, and an infinite variety of sea food. The 
 large Sun Parlor, adjoining the office with its sides of plate-glass, adds an ele- 
 ment of brightness to the entire house. Accommodations for 300 guests. 
 
 7rhf> *fA<>Sirh ^^ peerless, and the surface which rolls in over the hard and sloping 
 wl^v Ji^vt^CIJ sand affords a most delightful and safe bath. Uncontaminated by neigh- 
 boring cities, its close proximity to the Gulf Stream, and an absence of 
 undertow, mark it as tbc most perfect bcacb on tbe Htlantlc (Toast. 
 
 tTbc Bmusements and Sources of IRecreation are diversified and interesting 
 
 • The drives over modern shell 
 
 roads through forests of pines and over the asphalt-like beach which stretches for miles In 
 each direction are exceedingly picturesque and delightfully invigorating. The liverv is 
 thoroughly equipped and up-to-date. iFour=tracl!36owUnq Hllcv, 36iUlar61Room8. ■CbeatricalHu- 
 ^ito^um. 36aU=rooing, Ucnnis, llJatcbtng, jflsbing, 36ic^cling. jfull ©icbcstra in botcl an6 pavUton. 
 For furtiier information write to — 
 
 T. Edmund Krumbholz. 
 
 Manager Prin(;ess Anne Hotel. 
 Virginia Beach, Va. 
 
 R. H PannilS, 
 
 Gen'i, Pass'r Agent, 
 
 Norfolk, Va. 
 
OLD DOMim LINE.i 
 
 W. L. GUILLAUDEU, Vice-President and Traffic Manager. g- 
 
 General Offices ot Company, - - Pier 26, N. R., yew York. k. 
 
 JNO. F. MAYER, Agent, M. B. CROVVELL, Agent, ,' 
 
 I2I2 Main Street, Richmond, Va. O. D. Wharf, Norfolk, Va. %. 
 
 A SHORT AND DELIGHTFUL SEA TRIP- 
 
 =AXD 
 
 \ B.xw^]VEW YORK 
 
 ^ Norfolk, Portsmotttlt, mfx Point Comlort | 
 
 ■^^ ^V^ ATA -^ •=v^ -^ -^ ^ -V-^"^^ A^ A^ ^ z-j^- ^ -z^ 'A^A^ ^^ Zv^ ^' ^^^ ^-^ ^ U 
 
 Hetuport Hctos and Htclimoudt ^a. ^ 
 
 ^ FLEET. g. 
 
 Vi Two Fine Ships of 3,100 Tons each now Building. S* 
 
 i S. S. "PRINCESS ANNE," 3,100 Tons, Capt. J. G. Hulphers. % 
 
 4^ S. S. "JAMESTOWN," 3,000 Tons, Capt. R. B. Boaz. ^ 
 
 I S. S. "GUYANDOTTE," 2,400 Tons, Capt. J. P. N. Davis. k 
 
 ^ S. S. "OLD DOMINION," 2,200 Tons, Capt. I. W. Tapley. i 
 
 1] S. S. "RICHMOND," 1,500 Tons, Capt. A. E. Hiller. | 
 
 I ^S^ PROPOSED SAILINGS: SS-. t 
 
 Ki NORTH BOUND Daily-Leaves Norfolk, Va., at 5:30 P. M. for New York direct. L 
 
 *7' Passengers from CJld Point, Newaort News, etc., take Company Auxiliary Steamers. S* 
 
 j^ James River Route— Leave Riclimond, Va., at 5 P. M., every Monday. i. 
 
 > SOUTH BOUND Daily except Si.nda> — Leave New York from Pier 26 N. R., foot of S" 
 
 ^ Beach street at 3 P. M., except Saturday at 4 P. M. U 
 
 ^ Time between New York and Old Point Comfort or Norfolk is 18 to 22 hours; Rich- u 
 
 ■^ mond (via James River), 36 to 40 hours; Richmond (via water and rail), 28 hours; Peters- ^ 
 
 y burg 26 hours; between Norfolk and Washington, D. C, or Baltimore, Md., 12 hours. L 
 
 "j^ ■-, -. Jr 
 
 I -)iTHE LONGEST DAILY OGE/IN LINE IN THE WORLD;.^ | 
 
 fj This service is performed by the Company's newest screw steamships, the appoint- (., 
 
 T ments and accommodations of which will be found unsurpassed. ^ 
 
 tJ Through tickets and baggage checked to all principal Cities and Resorts in the North, U 
 
 i-* South and V\'est reached by connecting railroad system. |^ 
 
 > Children between 5 and 12 years of age, half price. - 
 
 *jl Bicycles, accompanying passengers, carried free. :^ 
 
 >' Passengers can secure stateroom accommodations two weeks in advance of day of u 
 
 1^ sailing. •> 
 
 saihng 
 
 <Ji CONNECTIONS— At Old Point with Chesapeake and Ohio Railway; at Norfolk with [l. 
 
 1^ subsidiary Steamers for Virginia and North Carolina Routes; Seaboard Air Line; Atlantic K 
 
 <W Coast Line; Norfolk and VVestern; Southern Railway; Atlantic and Danville; Norfolk and k 
 
 h Southern and Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Southern Railway. The Bay Line to and from :» 
 
 <^; Baltimore and Norfolk and Washington Line to and from Washington, D. C, daily except ^ 
 
 M Sunday. V 
 
 "^ lOfAl VIT^fTlVIA T T\'F^ The subsidiary steamers "Hampton Roads," S" 
 
 fj l^KJK^nL, \li\\jli\lt\ l^llVCO "Luray," "Virginia Dare," "Northampton" u, 
 
 1^^ and "Accomack" perform daily service between NORFOLK and Old Point, Hampton, New- tf 
 
 j^ port News, Smithlield, Suffolk, Nanseniond River, East River, Ware River, Severn River, U 
 
 V Back River, Poquosin River and York River. ^ 
 
 Time T.aeles and Inform.'Xtion Furnished on Appi,ic.\tion. % 
 
 ^"^v^'^v^^/^^v^ ^ ^"^^ z^F"z^- ^ "^'^'z^s-z^-t:^ 7^ ^--z^i^ ^^ ^-z^z^.\-z^ -^ ^ 
 
Differential 
 
 .Rates. 
 
 MEANS A SAVING OF 
 
 $3.00 
 
 On Your Ticket 
 
 l-^^ 
 
 #\@S\^ 
 
 SEABOARD AIR LINE 
 
 ' '^ ->iv^^=^"THE CYCLONE 
 
 The 
 
 Only Line 
 
 Running Solid 
 
 Pullman Vestibule Trains 
 
 ►BETWEEN- 
 
 Norfolk, Portsmouth, 
 Raleigh ^na Atlanta^*^ 
 
 2 Trains Every Day for tte South and Southwest 2 
 
 /VO EXTRA FARE' 
 
 i^r-if That portion of the SOUTH traversed by the SEA 
 BOARD AIR LINE offers to the Manufacturer, Farmer. 
 Fruit Grower, Business Man and the Horaeseeker greater 
 inducements than any other section of this country. 
 
 For Tickets, Maps, Folders or descriptive matter, etc., 
 . ^PPly to any Agent of the Seaboard Air Line, or address ^ 
 
 '^ J. W. BROWN, JR., City Pass'r Agt., 199 Main St., Norfolk, Ya.5^ 
 T. J. ANDERSON, Gen'l Pass'r Agt., Portsmoutti, Ya. 
 
 , ^^ E. ST. JOHN, Vife-President and General Manager. it, H. W. B. GLOVER, Traffic Manager. 
 
./. V, -r^ 
 
 f:^-:.'f^ 
 
 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 014 441 526 7 
 
 
 
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