First Landing

Wednesday, Oct 12

We woke up to light rain today.  It is also very cloudy/foggy.  Hmm, guess that means we won't be doing a lot of outdoor exploring.  We are just up the road from Virginia Beach so we headed down to Fort Story which is on Cape Henry.  This is the area known as the "First Landing" area.  Did you know that the place where the first permanant settlers first set foot on America was not at Jamestown but was at Cape Henry?  I don't remember that being taught in the schools but it is true.  There is a cross commemorating this event on the cape. 

Cape Henry is also where one of the most important battles in the American Revolution took place and not one American was injured in the fighting.  That is because the battle was a Naval battle between the British and French in the Chesapeake Bay.  The French were on our side during this war.

Also in this area there are two, count them, two lighthouses.  They are called the Cape Henry Lighthouse.  The Old lighthouse was built in 1792.  In 1872 the lighthouse developed cracks and was deemed unsafe.  The New lighthouse was built in 1881 and it still operates today.  To get to the base of the lighthouse you have to pay to climb it.  Since there was no way I was going up all those stairs we didn't do that.  I took pictures from the parking lot and later, down the road a bit. 

It looks like one of them is leaning doesn't it?  But individually they look to be standing straight.  It is the land they are sitting on. 

All the of the stuff we visited today is actually on Fort Story, an Army base.  Since we have a sticker on our car and ID cards we were able to access the area with no problem.  The public can also enter this area but must go through the visitor's center first. 

We also walked up to a landing to look at the bay and the cape.  The weather didn't cooporate and we were not able to see the Chesapeake Bay Bridge but here is the area. 

Since it was still raining we decided to head back to the RV.  Most of the other things in Norfolk are also outside and it was just too miserable of a day to stay out. 

Here are all the pictures I took today, including a couple of the campground.