Norfolk's First Fort "The Half Moone Fort"

The town of Norfolk was established in 1682 on 50 acres site located at the point where the Eastern Branch joined the Elizabeth River. Today the area of the original town was bounded roughly by City Hall Avenue on the north, Harbor Park on the east along Lovitt Avenue, and the Elizabeth River on the south and west.

The first fort in Norfolk was the Half Moone Fort. This fort was constructed before the town of Norfolk was established.

The Half Moone Fort was built at a site on the northwest end of Town Point Park then called Foure Farthing Pointe, several years before the town of Norfolk was established. The fort was built because of hostilities between the British and the Dutch continued after the British took New Amsterdam in 1664 and established the colony of New York. After Dutch ships destroyed a nest of tobacco ships at the mouth of the James River in 1667 and another fleet in Lynnhaven Bay in 1673. In 1673 the Virginia Assembly authorized construction on a fort in Lower Norfolk County to protect British settlements from possible future attacks by the Dutch. The act specified that "the model be in the form of a half moon." The fort was armed with demi-cannonsand culverins due to the broad expanse of the river at this location. The culverin was an early long cannon capable of shooting 18 pound (5 inch) ball accurately for about 1300 yards. Building the fort cost Lower Norfolk County 35,000 pounds of tobacco. No one knows how long this fort existed, but it does not show up on the earliest maps of Norfolk.

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Half Moone Fort - Norfolk’s First Fort - 1673