VA: Historic Portsmouth

Day 345
NM Today: 1
NM To Date: 5563

We woke this morning to a rainstorm and decided to hang out on the boat until the storm had cleared. Around 10:00 we left the boat to explore historic Portsmouth starting with a tour of the visiting destroyer - USS Arleigh Burke. On the way to the Naval Museum where the Burke is docked, we passed a touching statue.

"Homecoming" Statue
Dedicated to all sea service personnel
and their families - past, present, and future

From there we went to the destroyer for a free tour. We had to go through a security check before boarding. When asked if I had a knife with me, I had to say yes. I have a miniature Swiss army knife on my key chain. They took my knife with promises to return it to me after my tour. I worried I would not remember to go back for it.

USS Arleigh Burke Destroyer
Ship Motto: Built to Fight

Our guide showed us the upper deck of the destroyer only and described the weapons that we could see as we walked the deck. The first weapon he described he referred to as "c wizz".  CIWS stands for Close-in Weapon System. The crew on board call the CIWS "R2D2 with an attitude". This weapon is used to defend against attacking aircraft.

CIWS (gun behind railing)

Our Guide for the Tour

 In addition to the missile launch pads also on deck, we saw anti-sub weapons in the form of torpedoes.

Anti-sub Torpedoes

The USS Arleigh Burke is in port celebrating her 25th anniversary. Commemorative coins and t-shirts could be purchased as part of the tour. I picked up a t-shirt to remember our visit.

After retrieving my little knife, we went to the Naval Museum to explore their free exhibit. The museum traced the history of naval ships from the Revolutionary War through the Civil War, WWI, WWII, Korean War, the Cold War, and more. In addition to artifacts recovered from ships through the ages, the exhibits provided excellent descriptive summaries of battles won or lost including prints depicting battle scenes. Many of these prints came from Harper's World magazine and were originally drawn in the mid-to-late 1800s.

Most of the items on display sat behind glass cases making picture taking difficult. I found the ship models amazing but we have no pictures of them. They included several sailing vessels in intricate detail dating back to the Revolutionary War, ironclad vessels from the Civil War, and battleships from more recent times.

Naval Museum Entrance

Flag rescued from Confederate Gunboat USS Hampton
shortly before the boat exploded after being set on fire
by Union in 1865

Ship's Clock from USS Ironsides

Mines 

Detailed description of operation of setting a mine in the ocean

We only had about an hour to tour the museum because of a 12:00 checkout time at our marina.  On the way back to the boat, we passed by the Armed Forces Memorial Quotes exhibit on the dockside. I had seen two that particularly moved me yesterday, so we swung by to try to capture these plates.

Words from a Submarine Commander 1943

Thoughts from a nurse 1944

We made it back to the boat at noon and were on our way to our Portsmouth marina fifteen minutes later. Our extremely short travel today took us across the water from Norfolk to Portsmouth to stay at the Tidewater Marina where we could get accommodations for the third and fourth of July.

We got a big surprise when we checked in - the owner decided to have a cook out for anyone staying at his marina. He offered hamburgers, hot dogs, baked beans, chips, and watermelon as well as drinks for free. Suddenly I knew what we were having for lunch.

Cookout at the Tidewater Marina

As with any picnic, I ate too much. When we came back to the boat, Clark decided that the cool weather this afternoon offered an opportunity not to be missed to replace the fuel filter on the starboard engine. Given that and my extreme ennui following my large lunch, I decided it was the perfect time for a nap.

With Clark's miscellaneous boat chores and my nap completed, we decided to walk into the Portsmouth Historic area for a little exercise and a tour of the area. We saw quite a bit of interesting architecture.

1800s house

We found one large house built in the Romanesque Revival style c. 1894 by the president of the Portsmouth bank. In more recent years this house has taken on the name "Dr. Madblood's Castle" - the imaginary home in a local television show - Friday Night Frights.

"Dr. Madblood's Castle" 

On our wanderings through Portsmouth we saw several old churches including the Baptist Church shown below with beautiful stained glass windows.

Baptist Church in Portsmouth, VA

Stained glass in Baptist Church

The last time we visited Portsmouth we went to dinner with loopers or soon-to-be loopers we met at the AGLCA Rendezvous in Norfolk. I thought it would be interesting to find the restaurant where we ate. We wandered the streets of Portsmouth for over two hours and, as we did, we searched for the restaurant where we ate just over two years ago. With no luck we decided that perhaps the restaurant went out of business. 

As we wandered the streets we saw some more interesting sights including a memorial to Confederate soldiers. (We found no recognition of the deceased Union troops.)

Monument dedicated
"To Our Confederate Dead" in
Portsmouth, VA

Closeup of "To Our Confederate Dead" Monument

Mural on Wall in Portsmouth, VA

We finally gave up on our restaurant search and walked back to our marina. As we walked towards the restaurant at the marina, I decided that perhaps this was the place that we had been searching for up and down the docks. The more I looked at it, the more I convinced myself that this was indeed the place. How silly, if that is the case, that we walked for over two hours and covered blocks and blocks of Portsmouth only to find the restaurant just a few hundred feet from our boat!

757 Crave at the Harbor
Restaurant at the Tidewater Marina
Did we eat here in 2014 at the AGLCA Rendezvous???
I think so.