CHAPTER 205

AN ACT to require the State Library Board to have prepared and erected
on State Highway No. 17 and at the north end of Court Street in
the city of Portsmouth, historical markers, respectively, commemo-
rating the establishment of the city of Portsmouth and the explora-
tion of the Elizabeth River.

[S 202]

Approved March 6, 1958

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. §1. The State Library Board is hereby directed to have prepared and
erected prior to January one, nineteen hundred fifty-nine, in commemora-
tion of the establishment of the city of Portsmouth, an historical marker
on State Highway Number Seventeen, at or near the western boundary
of the city, bearing substantially the following inscription:

The site of the city of Portsmouth was patented June 15, 1659, by
Captain William Carver, a patriot in Bacon’s Rebellion. It was estab-
lished as a town, by act of the General Assembly, on February 27, 1752,
and named by its founder, Lieutenant Colonel William Crawford, for
Portsmouth, England. It was chartered as a city, on March 1, 1858, and
is the home of the Nation’s oldest naval shipyard, established 1767, the
Nation’s oldest naval hospital, commenced 1827, and is the birthplace of
the world’s largest naval installation.

§ 2. The State Library Board is further directed to have prepared
and erected prior to such date, in commemoration of the exploration of
the Elizabeth River, an historical marker in an appropriate location at
the north end of Court Street in the city of Portsmouth, bearing sub-
stantially the following inscription:

The Elizabeth River was first explored by Captain John Smith in
1608, and was named for Princess Elizabeth, eldest daughter of James I,
King of England. Shipbuilding activity on its shores began in 1620, when
John Wood, a shipbuilder, requested a land grant. Here have floated
many of the world’s most historic ships, including the USS Delaware,
first ship to be dry docked in America, CSS Virginia (ex-Merrimac), first
ironclad to engage in naval battle, USS Texas, the navy’s first battleship
and the USS Langley, the navy’s first aircraft carrier. All of these
vessels were constructed at the Naval Shipyard located on its shores.