A cedar tree near this location, then known as Foure Farthing Pointe, marked the western boundary in the original patent for the 50 acres that comprised Norfolk Town. In August 1680, John Ferebee, surveyor for Lower Norfolk County, was instructed to survey a town site on the Elizabeth River, and he completed the work in October 1680. In August 1682, the county, through its agents Anthony Lawson and William Robinson, bought the town site from Nicholas Wise, a shipwright, for ten thousand pounds of tobacco. The surveyed site extended eastward from this point along Main Street, formerly Front Street, on a ridge of high land to Dun-in-the-Mire, generally where Harbor Park is now located. The other principal road, "the road that leadeth out of town," went north from the current intersection of Main Street and St. Paul’s Boulevard. The original town site was laid out with half acre lots for houses and businesses, and the lots were priced at 100 pounds of tobacco.
