Photography By Skip Brown
Betsy Cartier may very well work in the smallest office in town--with the grandest view. Spectacular are the huge ships hogging the horizon in Portsmouth’s industrial harbor, which, somehow, has retained a pretty face and a peaceful air. A famous set of mouse ears on a ship’s smokestack identify a Disney cruise ship, which stands in the commanding shadow of an immense Navy battleship. Her shop is smack in the center of the historic neighborhood of Olde Towne, along the scene-stealing Elizabeth River.
“People ask me, ‘Don’t you get bored in that little building?’” says Cartier of her cottage-like combination welcome center/outdoor café, Portside at High Street Landing, which she owns with her husband, David. “Are you kidding? I have the best view. With the water traffic alone it constantly changes. And I meet people from all over the world.”
The dawn is still dewy, but Cartier is already busy at work in her small kiosk, not much bigger than your standard office cubicle. Like the doting grandmother she is, Cartier serves up coffee, gourmet pastries, and plenty of good advice to visitors on what to see and do in this three-century-old seaport.
A dog walker stops by for fresh fruit as her canine companion laps up water from a bowl Cartier keeps full. Not one to play favorites, she also has carrots handy in case the police horse is on duty.
Meanwhile, droves of locals stop by the café for a java jolt and newspaper before heading across the street to the Elizabeth River Ferry for their five-minute commute aboard a paddle-wheel ferryboat (one is the first gas-powered version), which delivers them across the river to jobs in Norfolk. Visiting boaters from nearby marinas amble over for muffins and maps and don’t leave until this dynamic welcoming committee of one has inspired them to explore the area on foot. “What I love about Olde Towne is you can walk everywhere--everything is in my backyard,” exclaims Cartier, who also hands out guides to town.
One afternoon strolling here will confirm her boast. The compact, friendly community of roughly ten blocks (one square mile) has activities to suit both day-trippers and resident town folk, be it strolling under lamppost-style streetlights along the seawall or window shopping in charming stores and eateries along High Street.
Approximately two thousand residents live in Olde Towne, the boundaries of which are generally considered to be the Elizabeth River on the east, Effingham Street on the west, Interstate 264 to the south, and north along Crawford Bay. On the National Register of Historic Places, Olde Towne is steeped in beautiful colonial, Federal, Greek Revival, Georgian, and Victorian architecture, laying claim to the largest collection of historic homes between Alexandria, Va., and Charleston, S.C. The town’s oldest building, the House & Commercial Building, dates to the mid-1700s, and has the distinction of sheltering the nation’s most infamous traitor: During the Revolutionary War, it was the headquarters for Benedict Arnold’s occupation of Portsmouth.
There are half a dozen town tours available, ranging from the tourism bureau’s self-guided walking tours to the African-American Heritage Trolley Tour to the Olde Towne Lantern Tour, conducted at twilight with guides dressed for the part.
Portsmouth was founded in 1752 by William Crawford, a wealthy merchant and ship owner, who named it after the naval port of Portsmouth, England. Olde Towne’s streets--London, Glasgow, Court, High--are contemporary signposts of its British heritage.
In 1608, Captain John Smith was in the “neighborhood,” mapping the lands surrounding Jamestown. By the mid-1600s a plantation community had settled here, using the advantageous location on the Elizabeth River and its tributaries to transport crops locally and as far away as the West Indies and Europe. This maritime trade gave birth to Portsmouth’s long legacy of shipbuilding, which can be seen in action today at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. The oldest naval shipyard in the country, it was established in 1767 by Scottish merchant shipbuilder Andrew Sprowle under the British flag, thirty-one years before the creation of the United States Navy.
Maritime history was literally “made” here. In 1861, the Confederacy’s CSS Virginia--better known as the Merrimac--was built here. In the first battle between ironclad ships, it and the Union’s USS Monitor duked it out right on the Elizabeth River. Pieces of the Confederate ship are on display at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum, where other noteworthy firsts can be explored, such as the building of the Texas, the first U.S. battleship, and the world’s first aircraft carrier, the Langley.
Both World Wars were an econ-omic boon to Portsmouth, bringing thousands of jobs to its shipbuilding industry. But like other cities, the nationwide trend of suburban migration and malls sucked the economic life out of Portsmouth; in the sixties the neighborhood began its decline. “I just love that this is a community where people visit on porches, but it wasn’t like this when I was growing up and my grandmother lived here,” says resident Jenny Delcamp. “If you had to go to Portsmouth, you locked your doors.”
Vagrants sometimes outnumbered shoppers in the depressed downtown. But today, one is hard pressed to find signs of Olde Towne’s tough times. Ken Woolard, president of the Olde Towne Business Association and co-owner of the upscale Way Back Yonder Antiques, characterizes the neighborhood’s amazing transformation as an “ongoing renaissance.” “When we opened in 1997, our block was almost entirely boarded up,” says Woolard. “We told ourselves we could hang in and just keep doing [antiques] shows during the slow times. Well, we used to do thirty a year--now we don’t need to do any.” He credits the success to the city’s economic initiatives and capital improvement projects that began in the 1980s, such as new streets, lighting, and landscaping.
In just the last three years, more than twenty-five new businesses have opened their downtown doors. Portsmouth native Michael Hester and his wife, Barbara, were in this last wave of new pioneers. He explains that they ventured to the downtown with a “build it and they will come” attitude. They transformed a century-old building that had been abandoned for twenty years into the handsome Vincent Hester Gallery, which opened in 2003. They feature local, regional, and national artists whose talents run from paintings and pottery to jewelry and blown glass. “We just love Olde Towne,” says Barbara. “It’s a little town within the city with this great sense of community.”
In any trek around town, you can’t help but notice people smiling and striking up conversations with neighbors and newcomers. Such is the atmosphere at the low-key local hangout Baron’s Pub, where a recent lunch crowd consisted of perfectly coifed ladies with shopping bags, burly construction workers, and a dreadlocked dude sitting with a table of “suits.” Its popular Baron Burger, a huge mouthful of juicy meat, mushrooms, onions, and choice of cheese, is a simple pleasure done right--as is the plump “when-in- season” oyster sandwich.
Upscale restaurants are not hard to come by here. A memorable dinner can be had at Sassafras, where regional cooking roots have gone progressive, sort of like sending your southern grandma to culinary school. Entrees range from pan-blackened catfish fillet with crawdaddy okra fritters to a not light but lip-smacking jumbo Gulf shrimp, stuffed with spinach and applewood smoked bacon, over linguine. And dynamic dining is always on the menu at Fusion 440, just a step off of High Street. With creative mixing of Asian and multi-international fare, this is the rare restaurant that lives up to its rep.
As for other pursuits, you’ll wear out your shoes before Olde Towne wears out its welcome. Fun shopping venues include a grandma’s atticÐtype shop called Lana’s Whim, a pleasant jumble of old linens, books, and homey antiques. There’s also Simple Pleasures, an antiques store that sells Depression glass in every shade. Get mod with the brightly colored and chrome home and home-office furnishings at Homewerks. But for the zaniest browsing around, zip through three floors holding everything from eight tracks to vintage oriental rugs to clarinets to air conditioners at Olde Towne Sales, aka Harry’s Pawn Shop. “Pawn shops are old merchandise, antiques are old merchandise. I just incorporated the two,” explains storeowner Robert “Harry” Dolsey.
Museums and other cultural treasures are many, especially for such a small area. At the Children’s Museum of Virginia, kids will love the two floors of hands-on exhibits at the largest museum of its kind in the state. They can climb inside a giant soap bubble and dig for dinosaur “fossils"--just don’t tell them they’re learning at the same time. Courthouse Galleries provides ever-changing exhibits featuring the works of national and international artists, grandly displayed in the former 1846 courthouse. Wanna take a peek in one of Olde Towne’s beautiful homes? The door is open at Hill House, where the four-story 1825 home is filled with the original family’s furnishings. On the waterfront with a beacon affixed to its mast, the Lightship Portsmouth beckons visitors to come aboard the 1915 floating lighthouse, the Lightship Museum, to see how the men who manned these ships lived while helping mariners find safe harbor.
When it’s time to bed down for the night, the four-room 1784 Patriot Inn Bed & Breakfast comes naturally to its colonial airs, combining them with modern comforts. Or come see Anne McGowan-McGlynn at the Glencoe Inn. In her beguiling Scottish brogue, she’ll explain that her guests’ morning meal of porridge is what grits are to the South. A twenty-five-year resident of Portsmouth, she decided in 1991 to share Olde Towne with travelers by restoring a much-neglected 1890 Victorian house. Since then, her ginger scones and warm Scottish-southern hospitality has won over many a guest.
But McGowan-McGlynn will be the first to tell you her first impression of Olde Towne wasn’t the most favorable. Brought here in 1979 by her then-husband’s job transfer, she remembers pulling off the interstate and being confronted with abandoned buildings and boarded-up shops. “My first thought was, ‘Well, I can survive anywhere for three years,’ “ she says.
But in mere moments that feeling faded. When she saw the waterfront and went exploring Olde Town’s residential streets, she fell in love. “There was this energy--young families were fixing up the old homes,” she adds. “With them raising young children here, I knew it was becoming a thriving neighborhood.”
She vows that retirement won’t take her away from her beloved Olde Towne. “Soon after I moved here, I had a unique sense of belonging, and through the years it’s strengthened,” she explains. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Donna Bozza Packer is a freelance writer living in Cape Charles, Va.
Locals’ Guide to Portsmouth
Share Her Majesty’s Mission: Outside the Elizabeth River Project office stands a life-size cutout of Queen Elizabeth, who proclaims, “It may have my name, but it’s your river.” A 150- gallon river aquarium and other exhibits tell the story of the nonprofit organization’s efforts to clean up this abused waterway. 475 Water St., 757-399-7487 or http://www.elizabethriver.org.
Surrey with the Fringe on Top: Meet the town in nineteenth-century style in a horse-drawn, 1816 restored carriage. Trips start at North Ferry Landing, $10 for adults; $5 for children. Ever After Farms. 757-714-6574 or http://www.ever-after-farms.com.
Riverview Penthouse: The new Renaissance Portsmouth Hotel and Waterfront Conference Center put the posh in waterfront digs with hundreds of rooms with stellar views. 425 Water St., 757-673-3000 or http://www.renaissanceportsmouth.com.
Feast for the Eyes: The glass-wrapped Riverview Gallery, located in the historic Seaboard Railroad Station, has knockout views outside and in, with an amazing variety of original artwork by more than 350 artisans from local shores and beyond. 1 High St., 757-397-3207.
Like Stepping into a Glamorous 1940s Nightclub: It’s a movie theater experience like no other in the circa-1945 Commodore Theatre. Intimate tables with demure lamps, plus a casual dinner menu, are the golden touches of this silver screen mecca. 421 High St., 757-393-6962 or http://www.commodoretheatre.com.
Contacts
African-American Heritage Trolley Tour
757-393-5327
Baron’s Pub
500 High St., 757-399-4840
Children’s Museum of Virginia
221 High St., 757-393-5258
http://www.childrensmuseumva.com
Courthouse Galleries
420 High St., 757-393-8543
http://www.courthousegalleries.com
Elizabeth River Ferry
757-222-6100
http://www.hrtransit.org
Fusion 440
467 Dinwiddie St., 757-398-0888
Glencoe Inn
222 North St., 757-397-8128
http://www.glencoeinn.com
Hill House
221 North St., 757-393-0241
Homewerks
341 High St., 757-399-6355
Lana’s Whim
429 High St., 757-393-1665
http://www.lanasbooks.com
Lightship Museum
Water & London Sts., 757-393-0241
Olde Towne Lantern Tour
757-393-5111
Olde Towne Sales/Harry’s Pawn Shop
719 High St., 757-393-1412
Patriot Inn Bed & Breakfast
201 North St., 757-391-0157
Portside at High Street Landing
757-397-8711
http://www.oldetowne.info
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum
2 High St., 757-393-8591
http://www.portsnavalmuseums.com
Portsmouth Visitor Information Center
6 Crawford Pkwy., 800-PORTS-VA
http://www.portsva.ocm
Sassafras
606 High St., 757-399-4480
Simple Pleasures
632 High St., 757-391-0442
Vincent Hester Gallery
607 High St., 757-397-7173
http://www.vincenthestergallery.com
Way Back Yonder Antiques
620 High St., 757-398-2700
