Wharves: (Perhaps Higgins or Wrights) between the Norfolk Amtrak Station and Harbor Park in Norfolk. Rodrick E. Northern, (1951-2021) Photographer 2019 BTW Class of 1969
Our Past
The Black History Tour of Norfolk revels Unknown History
In 2019, The Norfolk We Remember, LLC began conducting Black Norfolk History Tours for various groups. The first group was the Booker T. Washington High School, (Norfolk, VA) Class of 1969 for their 50th Reunion.
All of the tours that were conducted began with the Norfolk Marker for The Underground Railroad. The Marker is located in the area close to the Waterside Marketplace.
https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=5602
The location of the Marker, though openly placed, seems to be an odd location for those escaping enslavement. It is difficult to imagine that this accessible area would have been a prime possibility of escaping.
Research revealed the main location for those escaping and being undetected were hidden areas known as Higgins and Wright’s Wharves. The Wharves were isolated and located at the far end of Widewater Street (now Waterside Drive), the site is located between the Harbor Park Baseball Stadium and the Amtrak Terminal. It is now the proposed site for the proposed Head Waters Resort & Casino.
These wharves were once essential to the Underground Railroad. The out-of-the-way location, away from the central waterfront, made it safer for escapees to board there and avoid the scrutiny of the slave-catching armed gangs, and City officials, searching ships and wharves for runaways. This was the area where the enslaved strived to make it to freedom via some of the Virginia Underground Railroad sites of 150 years ago. They were conspicuous, yet unmarked pathways leading those escaping from the unkept areas where the wharves stood.
During the tour, the last place we visited were the wharves, now crumbling decks, to complete our Norfolk Black History Tour. Tour participants were given the history of the area that offered some hope to those seeking to escape bondage. It was a sobering stop as the passengers of the tour sat comfortably aboard an air-conditioned bus, imagining the fear and danger faced by the escapees. Even though some of escapees were able to board, there was a possibility that the captains on the ship, or the City authorities would throw them overboard, or kill them.
Therefore, this discovery for some was a sobering fact revealed to them on the tour. In an effort to help those on the tour feel a bit of the impact of that time, the participants on the tour, after hearing the history of the area, were lead in the singing of The Negro National Anthem.
“Lift every voice and sing.
Till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty!
Let our rejoicing rise.
High as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us.
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.”
On our first tour, Rodrick E. Northern stepped from the bus to capture the then existing section of the wharf. There was much discussion after this tour, along with amazement, interest, and newly gained knowledge. We are so appreciative of Rod for capturing this image.
Sometime later, a white group requested a Black History Tour. This was an unusual request; however, the tour was conducted as usual, with even more questions and additional Black history given. On the exact day of this tour, local media surprisingly announced that a public hearing would be held later that same week regarding the construction of the proposed Head Waters Resort and Casino. The headlines, the timing of the tour, the location of the wharves, created further discussions, and later protests of the casino. Some of the tour participants lead/joined the protest. This was not my design as creator of the tour. Mystical?
Headlines and news reports: Norfolk Resort Casino Public Hearing December 19, 2019.
Norfolk citizens plan petitions to undo casino vote.
“Slaves used local waters to escape north to freedom, these Waterways to Freedom were Norfolk’s proud participation in the Underground Railroad Network. Their daring escapes were made possible by a clandestine network of people, hideouts, and willing ship captains that history would eventually call The Underground Railroad.”
https://www.virginia.org/listing/waterways-to-freedom/14502/
Virginia Waterways and the Underground Railroad (American Heritage)
By Cassandra Newby Alexander, Ph.D.
“This “railroad” didn’t operate with tracks and trains, of course. It ran on water. It is speculated that more enslaved persons departed the port cities of Virginia than any other area along the Eastern Seaboard.”
“The “agents” and “conductors” on Virginia’s Underground Railroad were the most threatening group to slaveholders. Without their brave and heroic deeds, fewer enslaved would have been able to find freedom, or even see it as an option.”
“With sheer determination, and the assistance of sympathetic agents, an unknown number of enslaved boarded the northern bound vessels, however, some did not.”
“Two of the most famous Underground fugitives, George Latimer and Shadrach Minkins, escaped from Norfolk.”
Read more about the major conductors, skilled slaves, free Blacks, or whites who assisted in these secret endeavors at: https://www.visitnorfolk.com/guide/waterways-to-freedom-2/ Dr. Cassandra Newby-Alexander, Professor of History Norfolk State University.
NORFOLK WAS ONCE A MAJOR STOP ON THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD: WHAT TRACES REMAIN TODAY?
By James F. Lee
For three months in 1855, 38-year-old Daniel Carr hid in the Great Dismal Swamp in southeastern Virginia “surrounded by wild animals and reptiles.”
Carr had escaped from bondage in North Carolina and was on a desperate journey northward seeking freedom. But Carr’s immediate goal was Norfolk, Virginia. The swamp offered refuge, but the city offered a means to escape.
Antebellum Norfolk was a teeming place with ships lining dozens of wharfs along the Elizabeth River. Once in Norfolk, escaped slaves would seek help from the extensive network of resistors to slavery, often ship’s crews of free and enslaved Blacks, who carefully hid those trying to escape in north-bound vessels.
When Carr reached Norfolk, he found one of those ships, the schooner City of Richmond captained by Alfred Fountain, a white man known for his sympathy to runaway slaves. Carr secured passage and was hidden aboard with twenty other freedom seekers.
Once hidden on the schooner, danger still lurked for Carr and his fellow refugees. Before the City of Richmond departed, an armed gang led by Mayor William Lamb boarded the vessel looking for suspected runaways. Lamb’s men swung axes on bulkheads and lockers, while others thrust spears into the wheat cargo in their search for the suspected hidden slaves.
In a desperate gamble, Captain Fountain grabbed an ax, asked the mayor where he would like him to strike, and smashed the ax down at that spot. This convinced the posse that no freedom seekers were aboard, and the schooner departed in peace, delivering twenty-one escapees to freedom in Philadelphia.
Mayor William Lamb, by the way, was the father of Confederate Colonel William Lamb, “the hero of Fort Fisher,” who followed his father’s footsteps himself becoming mayor. Their family home, the lovely Kenmure on West Bute Street, still stands. It is a private residence today.
