Appropriately enough, a sailor was the first resident of Norfolk. In 1682, Peter Smith built a house on one of 51 lots laid out on a 50-acre tract on the Eastern Branch of the Elizabeth River, in what was then lower Norfolk County. According to surviving land records, Smith didn't have a neighbor for at least four years.
Norfolk was established by degree. In 1680, the General Assembly directed the county court to select a site for a "city," purchase it and hire a surveyor to lay it out. The court selected land owned by Nicholas Wise and paid him 10,000 pounds of tobacco for it. It engaged John Ferebee to mark off a main street and half-acre lots - three of which were granted Peter Smith because he agreed to build a house.
By the end of the decade, there were several houses and, along the waterfront, warehouses and a pier. Construction was begun on a courthouse when Lower Norfolk County was redesignated Norfolk County, and by 1700, there were 30 families living in the seaport. Samuel Boush acquired land at the edge of the community and in 1728 offered lots for sale. He also helped establish a parish church and a school. Boush was Norfolk's first suburban developer.
He was also slated to be Norfolk's first mayor, but he died before the General Assembly incorporated Norfolk as a borough in 1736. His son, Samuel Boush II, was named the first clerk of court for the borough. George Newton - a high sheriff, a justice of Norfolk County and a member of the House of Burgesses -became the first mayor.
Norfolk didn't officially become a city until 1845. Then, in recognition of this new status granted by the General Assembly, a new courthouse was built - the landmark structure that's now the memorial to Gen. Douglas MacArthur.
- This Millennial Moment was written by Daily Press staff writer Will Molineux. He can be reached at 247-4627 or by e-mail at firstname.lastname@example.org