text
stringlengths 0
21.4k
|
|---|
Adam Thoroughgood (1604–1640) of King's Lynn, Norfolk, England, the younger son of an influential family headed by the Reverend William Thorowgood, is one of the earliest Englishmen to become enamored with the area which became Virginia Beach. At the age of 18, he became an indentured servant to pay for passage to the Virginia Colony. Around 1622, he settled in an area south of the Chesapeake Bay a few miles inland from the Atlantic Ocean. This area had been passed by when the earlier settlements such as Jamestown were established beginning in 1607 in favor of locations further inland which would be less susceptible to attacks by other European forces, such as the Spanish. |
Serving his period of indenture, he earned his freedom and became a leading citizen of the area. He was elected to the House of Burgesses for Elizabeth City (or "citiie" as it was then called) in 1629. He also served on the (Royal) Governor's Council, and as a Justice of the Court. He also became a Captain in the local militia. |
The London Company lost its franchise and Virginia became a royal colony in 1624. In 1634, the Colony was divided into shires, soon renamed counties, a term still in use in Virginia 350 years later. Adam Thorowgood is credited using the name of his home in England when helping name New Norfolk County when it was formed from Elizabeth City County in 1637. The following year, New Norfolk County was split into Upper Norfolk County (soon renamed Nansemond County) and Lower Norfolk County, which was still quite large, encompassing the entire area now within the modern cities of Portsmouth, Norfolk, Chesapeake, and Virginia Beach. Thorowgood's 1635 patent covered of land. Much of the land between Lynnhaven River and Seawell's Point was owned by three men: Captain Thomas Willoughby, Francis Mason and Adam Thorowgood. |
Thorowgood's residence after 1634 was along the Lynnhaven River, also named for his home in England. Thoroughgood appears to have had the foresight to realizing earlier than many other leaders that Lower Norfolk County was too large for a single site for convenient worship and court affairs. He led the effort to establish a second parish church, court, and glebe house at what was then known as Churches Point on the Lynnhaven River. Adam Thoroughgood suddenly became ill and died at the age of only 36 in 1640. He was buried at Churches Point in a location now believed to be submerged. |
Today, some of the evidence of early English 17th-century settlement in the city survives, including the Adam Thoroughgood House museum and the Adam Keeling House, a private home also on the Lynnhaven River. |
Lower Norfolk County was quite large, and stretched all the way from the Atlantic Ocean west past the Elizabeth River and, as Thoroughgood had earlier envisioned, soon required two courthouses to service the citizenry. Finally, in 1691, Lower Norfolk County was in turn divided to form Norfolk County and Princess Anne County. Princess Anne, the easternmost county in South Hampton Roads, extended northward from the North Carolina border to Cape Henry at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, and included all of the area fronting the Atlantic Ocean. It was named after Anne, daughter of James II. Many of the settlers in Lower County of New Norfolk were cavaliers and religious refugees from the reigns of James I and James II; the latter's daughters were held in high regard by their father's subjects. Princess Anne County was to last from 1691 to 1963, over 250 years. |
Kempsville is a major historic section of Virginia Beach. Originally named Kempe's Landing and later Kemp's Landing, it was a colonial port of entry at the head of the Eastern Branch of the Elizabeth River. |
Originally named Kemp's Landing, in November 1775, Kempsville was the location where John Ackiss was killed by Royal Governor Lord Dunmore's militia during an incident later called the "Skirmish of Kempsville". Ackiss became the first Virginian casualty of the American Revolutionary War. The Daughters of the American Revolution later erected a plaque near the site. |
In 1720, Virginia's governor requested that a lighthouse be built on Cape Henry. It took a long time before the work was started. After being halted in 1774 by the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, the lighthouse was finally completed in 1791. In 1962 it was named Virginia Beach's official symbol. |
Structures from the Virginia colony in Virginia Beach which are still extant as of 2007 include the Adam Thoroughgood House, Hermitage, Broad Bay Manor, Green Hill Plantation, Wolfsnare Plantation (also referred to as "Pallets"), John Biddle House, Pleasant Hall, Carraway House, Old Donation Episcopal Church, Adam Keeling House, Pembroke Manor, Upper Wolfsnare, Wishart House (Lynnhaven House) and Francis Land House. |
Beginning in the late 19th century, the small resort area of Virginia Beach grew in Princess Anne County, particularly after 1888 with the arrival of rail service and electricity. Developers built the original Princess Anne Hotel which opened in 1890 at the oceanfront near the tiny community of Seatack, named for a British "attack by sea" during the War of 1812. In 1891, guests at the new hotel watched the wreck and rescue efforts of the United States Life-Saving Service for the Norwegian bark "Dictator". The ship's figurehead, which washed up on the beach several days later, was erected as a modest monument to the victims and rescue along the oceanfront for more than 50 years, and then became the inspiration for the current Norwegian Lady Monuments which were dedicated in 1962 in Virginia Beach, and Moss, Norway. |
The "Gay Nineties" and the turn of the century saw a boom in construction of hotels and guest cottages to accommodate increasing numbers of summer vacationers flocking to the seashore. Over time, the grand old hotels and cottages succumbed to fire and the wrecking ball, to be replaced by the modern high-rise hotels and motels that line the shore today. Only one of the old Victorian cottages of that period still exists and continues to welcome guests -Barclay Cottage Bed and Breakfast. |
Although the resort was initially dependent upon railroad and electric trolley service, completion of the concrete Virginia Beach Boulevard extending from Norfolk in 1922 opened access for automobiles, buses, and trucks, and passenger rail service was eventually discontinued. |
A railroad passenger station at Cape Henry built in 1902 and served by the original Norfolk Southern Railway was restored late in the 20th century and is used as an educational facility by Joint Expeditionary Base East. Another railroad station near 18th Street and Pacific Avenue was torn down. (Part of the original railroad from Norfolk near the Oceanfront is now used as a pedestrian and bicycle path). |
The growing resort of Virginia Beach was incorporated as a town in 1906. B.P. Holland was chosen to be the Town's first mayor. He had been a clerk of the original Princess Anne Hotel many years earlier, and had witnessed the wreck of the "Dictator". During the next 45 years, Virginia Beach continue to grow in popularity as a seasonal vacation spot, and casinos gave way to amusement parks and family-oriented attractions. |
After the Second World War, Virginia Beach ushered in a new era fed by transportation improvements and a construction boom. The war also left the town with four permanent military reservations, that continue to mark its landscape today: Joint Expeditionary Base East, Naval Air Station Oceana, Dam Neck Fleet Combat Training Center and the State Military Reservation (Camp Pendleton). |
Virginia Beach became a tiny independent city politically independent from Princess Anne County in 1952, although the numerous ties between Virginia Beach and Princess Anne remained. The change was seen as part of a larger reorganization of the boundaries and structures of almost all of the counties, cities and towns in southeastern Virginia which took place between 1952 and 1976. |
In the mid 20th century, the northwestern borders of Princess Anne County lost territory to annexation suits by the City of Norfolk after annexing the entire northeastern portion of Norfolk County. Because cities in Virginia cannot annex each other's territory, leaders and residents of Princess Anne County came to see a merger with the tiny independent city of Virginia Beach as a way to prevent the independent City of Norfolk, whose population included a far greater number and proportion of African-Americans (about 43% as opposed to under 20% in Virginia Beach), from annexing more or potentially all of the county. |
In 1963, after approval by referendum of the voters of the City of Virginia Beach and Princess Anne County, and with the approval of the Virginia General Assembly, the two political subdivisions were consolidated as a new, much larger independent city, retaining the better-known name of the Virginia Beach resort. They needed to do this because of Virginia law states that a city and a county can not merge. They got past that by attaching the bill to the already large Virginia State budget. About the same time, at similar risk of annexations, Norfolk County took similar action, consolidating with the small independent City of South Norfolk and forming another new city. The City of Chesapeake became Virginia Beach's new neighbor to the southwest. |
Today, most of the area formerly in Princess Anne County when it was formed in 1691 is now located within the City of Virginia Beach. The only exceptions are some territory of the northwestern portion which became part of the City of Norfolk through annexation and a land swap agreement between the two cities in 1988. |
While an increasing number of African American college students converged on Virginia Beach for the Labor Day Weekend each year in the late 1980s, specific events during the 1988 "Greekfest" are seen as having presaged the riots of 1989. First, it was reported that an oceanfront "7-Eleven" convenience store was looted by a large group of revelers who walked into the store during business hours and walked out with food, drinks, and other merchandise without paying. Some speculated that the 7-Eleven incident may have emboldened celebrants during the following year's riots, as the 1988 looters were never challenged by local law enforcement due to their large numbers. Second, during the 1988 event, some hotels reported vandalism by patrons. For 1989's Greekfest, hotel owners increased rates, enforced minimum stays, and issued colored wristbands to identify registered guests. These more stringent and expensive hotel policies were perceived to be racially motivated by the majority-African American participants of Greekfest, increasing racial tensions when such procedures were not in effect during any other time of the year. The third occurred when numerous 1988 Greekfest attendees could not get into a scheduled concert at the Virginia Beach Pavilion because of the insufficient capacity of the venue, which led to some property damage and an alleged assault on a female security guard. City officials used the property damage at the Pavilion as a pretext for denying Greekfest the use of all city facilities in 1989. |
City leaders claimed after the 1988 event that the number of Greekfest attendees overwhelmed Virginia Beach's capacity for large events. Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf made it plain that the African American end-of-summer event was simply not welcome in the city. Organizers of the event were told by city officials that they could not rent any public facilities for 1989's Greekfest. Without the use of city facilities, upwards of 100,000 Greekfest attendees in 1989 were left with nothing to do but mill around the oceanfront. City leaders additionally put new ordinances and policies in place that led to the arrests and citations of hundreds of party-goers, primarily for relatively minor offenses such as jay-walking and loud music. The Virginia National Guard was placed on call for Labor Day weekend 1989. Attendees claimed that they felt unwelcomed by the inhospitable nature of the police and other city officials. |
It was widely reported that the property destruction and looting in 1989 began as attendees were listening to Public Enemy's hit song "Fight the Power" from Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing" film, which had been released earlier the same summer. As party-goers were listening to the song booming from a nearby vehicle, someone tossed a brick through a storefront window. From there, more windows were broken and numerous people began to take merchandise from stores in the immediate area. Apparently fearing for their safety, Virginia Beach police abandoned the oceanfront, returning hours later in full riot gear. As the sun rose the next morning, it became clear that approximately 100 stores and restaurants stretching over two dozen blocks on the ocean front had been damaged and/or had merchandise stolen. |
The Virginia National Guard arrived around dawn and a state of emergency was declared by order of the Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia. A nighttime curfew of 8pm was placed in effect and hundreds of Greekfest attendees caught out in the streets after curfew were arrested and/or beaten by law enforcement authorities over the next two nights. Angry that they had spent hundreds of dollars for hotels which became virtual prisons at night, many Greekfest attendees destroyed property within the hotels and threw televisions, furniture, and other items over hotel balconies. A police horse was killed when it was struck in the head by an item thrown over a balcony. The police blotter listed more than 650 people arrested over the weekend. |
Some suggest that if the City had worked more closely with college organizers and created more event activities, events at the oceanfront would not have gotten out of control. The year following the 1989 riot, the City became greatly engaged and spent millions of dollars to prepare for Greekfest. This preparation included blocking off the entire beach area with police checkpoints, allowing only those with city-issued passes access to the oceanfront, those passes granted exclusively to residents who lived or worked within the oceanfront perimeter and tourists with confirmed reservations at beachfront hotels. Students and party-goers felt that the event had become overly militarized and within two years the festival was virtually abandoned. Students and community leaders claimed the newly organized structure of the event destroyed the raucous and freewheeling nature of the gathering. The prevailing sentiment was the City of Va. Beach did not welcome the GreekFest crowd and that such treatment was uncalled for and disrespectful. Most attendees felt the racial overtones revealed by such treatment should no longer be tolerated and not only did African American students refuse to return on future Labor Day weekends, but for two decades the city has had trouble courting large numbers of African American tourists of any kind. |
Future Labor Day weekends in Virginia Beach were said to be more "typical." |
Virginia Beach made national headlines in 2003 when it hosted the first trial of convicted Beltway sniper murderer John Allen Muhammad. The area was selected due to a court order for a change of venue. His trial began in October 2003, and the following month, he was found guilty of capital murder in one of the series of shootings and extortion attempts. Four months later, the judge agreed with the jury's recommendation, and he was sentenced to death. In April 2005, the Virginia Supreme Court affirmed the local court's verdict and the death sentence. Muhammed was executed on November 10, 2009. |
Pharrell Williams organized an oceanfront festival called Something in the Water. The event was, in part, a response to negativity surrounding the annual arrival of college students for spring break, previously known as "Greekfest" (see above). Something in the Water received nationwide attention, including a feature on CBS This Morning The event featured other popular music performers from the area including Missy Elliot and Timbaland. Appearances were made by Jay-Z and Snoop Dogg. Other activities included sports demonstrations, arts and technology experiences, professional networking, and an open-air church. |
The King Neptune statue was built in honor of the Neptune Festival, which is a local festival held each September. |
= = = Regina Lewis = = = |
Regina Lewis is an American author, national television contributor, and consumer trend expert. She is a contributor to USA Today and regularly covers economic headlines for MSNBC on the weekends. Ms. Lewis has previously served as host of DIY Network's "Tech Out My House" and AOL Consumer Advisor. |
She first appeared on national TV in 1999 on the "CBS Early Show", later assuming a full-time role as an expert commentator for several national network and cable programs, including "Today", "The View", "ABC World News This Morning", Fox News Channel, and CNN Headline News. Lewis has also filled in as co-host on CNNfn's The Flip Side, as well as Money Gang with Ali Velshi. |
In 2000, Lewis contributed to the primetime reality series "Big Brother". She’s appeared on the syndicated entertainment program "Extra" and has hosted red-carpet interviews for major events including the Grammys and the world premiere of Harry Potter. |
In 2002, Lewis hosted a 26-episode "Parent Sense" series for public television, teaching parents how to raise happy, healthy children. She is also author of the best-selling book "Wired in a Week". Lewis is the mother of three and has been cited on Capitol Hill for her work in championing online kids safety. |
In her role as AOL Consumer Advisor, Lewis worked to build awareness surrounding key consumer topics and online trends, including how to save time and money online, and keeping kids safe in cyberspace. |
In addition to her journalism work, Regina currently has a thriving consulting business, specializing in media and presentation training and personal branding for executives, authors, athletes and professors. |
Lewis lives with her children in Northern Virginia and splits her professional time between New York City and Washington, D.C. |
= = = March of Cambreadth = = = |
"March of Cambreadth" is the award-winning signature song of American singer, musician and songwriter Alexander James Adams, previously known as Heather Alexander. The song is well known in filk, Renaissance Fair and Society for Creative Anachronism circles. It has been featured in novels by Mike Shepherd, John Ringo and S.M. Stirling. It has also been parodied extensively. |
"March of Cambreadth" received a Pegasus Award in 2006, in the category "Best Battle Song". |
Heather Alexander wrote the song in the late 1980s and sang lead vocals on the following recordings: |
Alexander James Adams has sung lead vocals on the following recordings: |
The song also appears on albums by other artists. |
The "War Trilogy" on "Midsummer" consists of three songs. The first, a love ballad, anticipates the battle; the second portrays the battle; the third looks back on the battle and its results. |
As described on the live album "Festival Wind", Alexander was reading an Internet filk mailing list when his fans observed that they could sing "March of Cambreadth" to the tune of his children's song "Hap'n'Frog" and vice versa. Determined to embarrass himself before anyone else did it for him, he took the two songs "and let them have an afternoon together and breed." The result is "Hap'n'Frog of Cambreadth," recorded on "Festival Wind". |
Alexander did a second self-parody "March of Con Death" specifically for the RainFurrest 2009 Fur Suit Parade. As the theme for that year was "Zombie Attack" the lyrics included humorous puns relating to unlife and of course keeping the signature chorus line of ""How many of them can we make die!"" |
Alexander also performed the parody "December of Cambreadth" on the album "Roundworm". The words to the parody are by Bob Kanefsky, and deal with Santa Claus |
delivering toys, replacing the signature refrain ""How many of them can we make die?"" with ""How many of them can we bring toys?"" |
Two other filk songs based on "March" have been written, both dealing with the aftermath of battle with the refrain ""How many of them can we make live?"." One, written by Batya Wittenberg, is titled "Healer's Cry", and the other, by John C. Bunnell, is titled "After Cambreadth". |
John Ringo has (mis)quoted "March of Cambreadth" in his novels "Hell's Faire", "Ghost" and "There Will Be Dragons" as well as in the second "Looking-Glass" book, "Vorpal Blade". A copy of the "Midsummer" recording was included on CD-ROM in "There Will Be Dragons", "Hell's Faire" and in the Baen Free Library. |
S.M. Stirling quoted or referenced "March of Cambreadth" in "The Protector's War", "A Meeting In Corvallis", "The Sunrise Lands" and "On the Oceans of Eternity", in all of which he insists the song is traditional. |
Mike Shepherd used the song in his book "". |
Bob Kanefsky has parodied "March of Cambreadth" twice: |
Heather Alexander recorded "December of Cambreadth" for the compilation album "Roundworm". |
P. R. Frost quoted "March of Cambreadth" in the book "Moon In The Mirror: A Tess Noncoiré Adventure". |
Because of his Celtic tune and his use of bagpipes, March of Cambreadth was taken by the supporters of the Gaunt's Ghosts saga and used in fanon for the battle hymn of the "Tanith First-and-Only", sung by the trooper Brin Milo to encourage and motivate his companions in the hellish battlefields of the 41st Millennium (Warhammer 40,000). |
= = = Monte Ceneri = = = |
Monte Ceneri is a mountain pass in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. It connects the Magadino plain and the Vedeggio valley across the Lugano Prealps at an elevation of above sea level. In so doing, it provides the most direct route between the cities of Bellinzona and Lugano. Despite its name ("monte" is the Italian word for "mountain"), Monte Ceneri is the lowest point on the crest between Monte Tamaro and the Camoghè. |
Two tunnels have been dug under Monte Ceneri, the Monte Ceneri Road Tunnel for the A2 motorway and the Monte Ceneri Rail Tunnel for the Gotthard railway. A new rail tunnel, the Ceneri Base Tunnel, is currently under construction that will connect Camorino near Bellinzona and Vezia near Lugano. |
The pass is situated in the recently created municipality of Monteceneri and the district of Lugano. The Monte Ceneri radio transmitter is located close to the pass. |
The larger part of Ticino, which lies to the north of Monte Ceneri and includes the valley of the Ticino river and the cities of Bellinzona and Locarno, is often referred to as the Sopraceneri ("above the Ceneri"). The smaller part to the south, which includes Lugano, Mendrisio and Chiasso, takes the name Sottoceneri ("under the Ceneri"). |
= = = Klanxbüll = = = |
Klanxbüll (Danish "Klangsbøl", North Frisian "Klangsbel") is a municipality on the mainland in the northwest corner of Schleswig-Holstein, in Kreis Nordfriesland, Germany. The municipality belongs to the Amt Südtondern. |
The village's chronicle goes with dike construction in the region, because only as the area of Klanxbüll was endiked and drained, could houses be built. Klanxbüll is first mentioned in 1231 with an entry in the land register of the Danish king Waldemar, since the former duchy of Schleswig (with short exceptions) belonged until 1864 to the Danish crown. |
At 1240 a church began to be built; that church, which is now under monument protection, is still the only surviving reed-thatched church on the mainland: . |
Around 1400 Klanxbüll was separated by a storm tide from the remaining mainland and was now on an island. |
In 1566 new dams and dikes were built, making a new polder, the Gotteskoog, reconnecting Klanxbüll and the area around to the mainland; part of this separating sea remains as the Gotteskoogsee lake. |
Klanxbüll got economic importance in 1921, when it got a station on the Marsh Railway railroad. |
In 1927 the Hindenburgdamm was built. This causeway connects Sylt island to the mainland. Klanxbüll is the last station on the mainland, before the track reaches Sylt; thus is it for people working in the surrounding countryside and on Sylt an important Park&Ride station (chargeable:; 2.50 euros per day). The surrounding populated areas are declared to be prohibited for parking areas, to stop tourists going to Sylt from choking the area with parked cars. The station equipment was reorganized gradually in the last years. In 2006 a road bridge was built over the railroad, as before road traffic often had long waits at the level crossing while the gates were closed for trains to pass. |
= = = Bunnet Stane = = = |
The Bunnet Stane (or "bonnet stone") is a rock formation near the hamlet of Gateside in Fife. It sits upon one of the calciferous sandstone outcrops that exist around the base of the Lomond Hills. The Bunnet Stane itself consists of an elevated table of rock, about ten feet by twenty feet across, which sits upon a thin column of rock like a giant mushroom. There are several romantic explanations for the stone's shape, but it was formed entirely by the natural weathering of the exposed outcrop. |
There is a small man-made cave carved into the outcrop beneath the Bunnet Stane called Maiden's Bower. The story goes that many years ago a young maiden fell in love with the son of a rival family. The stone was their meeting spot but one day, as she approached, she saw her father's men ambush and kill the young man. After that she refused to return home and spent the remainder of her life in the cave, becoming known locally as a saint. More realistic theories suggest that the cave may have been built by a landlord as a bothy or by surveyors in the 19th century. A further explanation was provided by a contributor to the Scots Magazine, a few years ago. This person was an elderly lady who, as a child, spent holiday time at the nearby farm of Wester Nether Urquhart. In her letter, she described an old man (possibly an ex-soldier) who was given permission by the farmer to make himself a small bothy which he occupied while employed as a shepherd. An examination of the interior shows the remains of an iron fire grate and ventilation chimney. The walls bear grooves, notches and small platforms which are likely to have served the purpose of partitioning off, say, a sleeping area or storage. One largeish notch in the southern wall may have supported one end of a sleeping platform |
The Bunnet Stane is not marked on the 1:50 000 OS map. Its coordinates are: Landranger 58 GR 189 071. A path leads to the Bunnet Stane from an unmarked car park at GR 185 082 on the same map. Both the Bunnet Stane and the car park are marked on the 1:25 000 OS Explorer map (No.370 - Glenrothes North, Falkland & Lomond Hills). |
= = = Ottumwa Courier = = = |
The Ottumwa Courier (formerly called Ottumwa Daily Courier) is a five-day (Tuesday through Saturday) daily newspaper published in Ottumwa, Iowa, United States, and covering Wapello County, Iowa. It is owned by Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. (CNHI). |
Publishing since 1848, and as a daily newspaper since 1865, the "Courier" is Ottumwa's oldest business. In 1890, it was the original flagship of A.W. Lee's media company, later called Lee Enterprises. The company sold the "Courier" to Liberty Publishing Group in 1999; two years later, Liberty sold it to CNHI, which has owned it since then. |
The newspaper's front page bills itself "Southeast Iowa's Best Newspaper." |
= = = Sedgwick Middle School = = = |
Sedgwick Middle School is a school in the town of West Hartford, Connecticut, and is one of the West Hartford Public Schools. |
Feeder schools for Sedgwick include Braeburn, Duffy, Charter Oak, Webster Hill and Wolcott. |
Sedgwick was a Blue Ribbon School in 1999-2000. |
Sedgwick Middle School Staff Handbook 2009-2010 and |
CT Department of Education Strategic School Profile 2007-2008 |
= = = Rolland Lawrence = = = |