Welcome to Historic Fort Norfolk

Fort Norfolk was one of a series of fortifications authorized by President George Washington in 1794. The original earthworks structure was refortified with masonry walls in 1808, and many of the brick buildings inside the walls date to 1810. Troops from Fort Norfolk took part in the successful repulsion of British troops at the 1813 Battle of Craney Island during the War of 1812. During the American Civil War, the fort was occupied briefly by Confederate troops before being retaken by the U.S. Army. Today, Fort Norfolk is managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Corps and Norfolk Historical Society work together to preserve and interpret it. By the 1880s, the thriving working-class community of Atlantic City shared the waterfront with Fort Norfolk. Major employers included the Norfolk Knitting Mills, several lumber firms, and an oyster business. A toll bridge at York Street and a footbridge at Botetourt Street connected Atlantic City to the city of Norfolk. In the 1870s, there was a racetrack at the end of Fort Norfolk Road, later renamed Colley Avenue after John G. Colley, whose property it bisected. Neighborhood children attended Atlantic City Public Schools number 1 and number 2, later Patrick Henry and Robert E. Lee schools. Atlantic City was annexed to the City of Norfolk in 1890 as part of the sixth ward, and streetcar service was extended to the neighborhood in 1893. Much of Atlantic City is gone today, razed as part of Project Number Two of the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority’s three-phase redevelopment program, and a comprehensive medical center occupies the site today. Harbor’s Edge upscale retirement community joined the skyscape in 2006. The United States Army Corps of Engineers dates to 1775, when the Continental Congress appointed a team of engineers to oversee the construction and refortification of Patriot defenses against the British Army. President Thomas Jefferson established the modern Corps of Engineers in 1802. The Corps began using the fort as its Norfolk District headquarters in 1923. Extensive renovations were made and buildings added during World War Two, most of which have now been removed. The Corps moved from the fort into the adjacent Waterfield Building in 1983, and Fort Norfolk is in caretaker status with several of its buildings under license to the Norfolk Historical Society.

Norfolk, Virginia · United States