Norfolk local attractions

 

Hours and admission are subject to change. Some attractions are closed on major holidays. Call ahead to confirm times and prices.

 

Attucks Theatre, 1010 Church St., (757) 622-4763, www.attuckstheatre.org

Once known as the "Apollo of the South," the Attucks Theatre has been fully restored to its original splendor as a performing arts center. Now, it's a popular venue for concerts, speakers, theatrical performances and films.

 

Battleship Wisconsin, 1 Waterside Drive, (757) 322-2987, www.hrnm.navy.mil. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, noon-5 p.m. Sunday. Free

The 887-foot-long Iowa-class battleship’s career spanned 50 years and three wars. Tourists have a chance to talk with volunteers about the ship, stroll the teak deck and examine the Wisconsin’s two 30,000-pound anchors and its 16-inch guns.

 

Beaches

The Ocean View beaches, along the Chesapeake Bay, are local favorites where the waves are gentle and the crowds manageable. The city maintains three beach parks, staffed by lifeguards in season, along the 71/2 miles of beaches off Ocean View Avenue.

Ocean View Park, 100 W. Ocean View Ave., is home to a boardwalk and hosts a series of special events, including concerts, festivals and fireworks.

There's also Sarah Constant Beach Park, at the intersection of Tidewater Drive and Fourth View, and Community Beach Park, between Tidewater Drive and Chesapeake Boulevard.

Norfolk's beachfront also is home to the new Ocean View Fishing Pier, which juts 1,690 feet into the Bay and is open 24 hours a day, Memorial Day through Labor Day. The pier includes a restaurant, bait shop and game room.

 

Cedar Grove Cemetery and Elmwood Cemetery, 218 and 238 E. Princess Anne Road, (757) 441-2653. Open 8 a.m.- 4:30 p.m. weekdays; office on grounds of Elmwood Cemetery

Cedar Grove, established in 1825, has lots for the grandparents of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, the Roper Mausoleum and mass graves for yellow fever victims. Elmwood Cemetery, established in 1853, is the site of the West Point Monument, which honors black soldiers who served in the Civil War.

 

Chrysler Museum of Art, 245 W. Olney Road, (757) 664-6200, www.chrysler.org. Open 1-5 p.m. Sunday, 10 a.m.- 9 p.m. Wednesday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursday-Saturday. Admission: adults, $7; teachers, seniors and military, $5; children 18 and younger and students with a valid college ID, free. Wednesday admission by donation.

The Chrysler features more than 30,000 works, some dating back 5,000 years. The collections include pre-Columbian, African, Asian, Egyptian and Islamic art, sculpture, furniture, photography and paintings in a vast array of styles. The Chrysler may be best known for its glass collection, which ranges from early artifacts to contemporary pieces, and includes a world-class array of Tiffany pieces.

 

City parks

Norfolk has a wide array of parks, rec centers, beaches, pool, open spaces and other places for recreation. For information on neighborhood parks and other city facilities, call (757) 441-2400 or visit www.norfolk.gov/rpos/

Beach parks

Community Beach Park, 600 E. Ocean View, Ocean View Avenue and Chesapeake Boulevard

Sarah Constance Beach Park, 300 W. Ocean View Ave., Tidewater Drive and 4th View Ocean

View Beach Park, 100 W. Ocean View Ave.: Includes a bandshell for presentations and dancing, a boardwalk, beach handicap access ramp and lots of open green space.

Other major parks

Barraud Park, off Tidewater Drive on Vista Drive: Amenities include picnic shelters, a lighted softball field, playgrounds and parking.

Lafayette Park, 35th and Granby streets: It has basketball and tennis courts, picnic shelters, a boat ramp, a ballfield and a large playground area. The park is adjacent to the Virginia Zoo and the Ernie Morgan Environmental Action Center.

Lakewood Park, 1612 Willow Wood Drive, between Granby Street and Tidewater Drive: It has nine tennis courts, two lighted ballfields and a playground.

Northside Park, 8445 Tidewater Drive: This park is home to Imagination Island, the largest community-built playground in the state. The park also has a year-round indoor pool with sun patio, two lighted softball diamonds, a playground, picnic shelters, walking paths, outdoor basketball court, seven tennis courts and a wading pool.

Tarrallton Park, 2100 Tarrallton Drive, behind Tarrallton Community Center: This 70-acre park has family-size picnic shelters, playground, lighted tennis courts and basketball court and three soccer fields.

Town Point Park, 120 W. Main St.: This park, along the Elizabeth River, is best known as the home of festivals and concerts that enliven the waterfront. But during down time, this haven for food, fireworks and fun is a peaceful place to just sit and watch the boats float by.

 

d’Art Center, In Selden Arcade, at 208 E. Main St., (757) 625-4211, www.d-artcenter.org. Open 1-5 p.m. Sunday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. Free

The d’Art Center is a creative spot. Learn how art is made by watching visual artists at work in their studios and enjoy the sights, which includes paintings, sculpture and drawings. The center is home to art classes and camps as well as regular exhibits.

 

Downtown Waterfront

This area has become a destination for fun, food and festivals. Among the attractions along the waterfront:

• Waterside, a shopping and dining venue on Waterside Drive. Details, Page 34
• Town Point Park, where more than 100 concerts, festivals and other events take place each year.
• The Armed Forces Memorial, which is connected to Town Point Park by two foot bridges. Letters written home by military personnel who died at war are cast in bronze.
• Half Moone Cruise and Celebration Center, 1 Waterside Drive, launches passengers to many ports of call, including Bermuda and the Bahamas.
• Nauticus, the National Maritime Center at 1 Waterside Drive, features exhibits on maritime science and houses the Hampton Roads Naval Museum. And parked outside is ...
• The Battleship Wisconsin, which is docked beside Nauticus, gives visitors a chance to see a battleship deck firsthand.

 

Fort Norfolk, 810 Front St., www.norfolkhistorical.org. Open year-round for self-guided tours during working hours Monday through Friday; photo ID required.

Of the 19 harborfront forts authorized in 1794 by George Washington, Fort Norfolk is the only one that remains. Used today by the Army Corps of Engineers, it stands on a four- acre site and includes earthwork embank-ments, ramparts, a dungeon, officers’ quarters, a powder magazine, barracks and guardhouse.

 

Fred Heutte Center, 1000 Botetourt Gardens, www.fredheutte.org

Living in Norfolk in the 1930s, Frederic Heutte focused his passion on beautifying the city through horticulture. For more than 30 years, the small garden that bears his name has been dedicated to preserving Heutte’s dream. The garden, nestled in the midst of the Ghent section of Norfolk, is composed of a perennial garden, the herb knot garden, the heirloom vegetable garden, and a water garden. There is also an arboretum, a camellia lath house and a historic ferry building.

 

Hampton Roads Naval Museum, 1 Waterside Drive on the second floor of Nauticus. (757) 322-2987, www.hrnm.navy.mil. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, noon-5 p.m. Sunday. Free

Artifacts include an 1862 lithograph of Naval Hospital Portsmouth and a pepper bottle dating to the Civil War recovered from a shipwreck.

 

The Hermitage Foundation Museum, 7637 North Shore Road, (757) 423-2052, www.thfm.org. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 1-5 p.m. Sunday; closed Wednesday. Admission for house tour: adults, $5, children 6-18, $2; college students with ID, $3; military and museum members, free. The grounds are free.

The Hermitage is an early 20th century Arts-and-Crafts estate. The museum and gardens house an art collection spanning 5,000 years, including a Neolithic jade cong and ancient Chinese ceremonial bronzes.

 

Hunter House Victorian Museum, 240 W. Freemason St., (757) 623-9814, www.hunterhousemuseum.org. Open April-December 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Wednesday- Saturday, 12:30 -3:30 p.m. Sunday. Admission: adults, $5; senior citizens, $4; children, $1

Built in 1894 as the family home for banker James Wilson Hunter, the house showcases the elegance and romance of the Victorian era.

 

MacArthur Memorial, MacArthur Square, Bank Street and City Hall Avenue, (757) 441-2965, www.macarthurmemorial.org. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday- Saturday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. Free

The four-building complex, which includes Norfolk’s 19th-century city hall, has a memorial rotunda where Gen. Douglas MacArthur is interred, a collection of galleries depicting his life and stories of the U.S. armed forces from the Civil War through the Korean War.

 

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, the intersection of Church Street and Brambleton Avenue

This four-sided black monument stretches 80 feet tall and contains well-known quotes from the slain civil rights leader.

 

Moses Myers House, 323 E. Freemason St., (757) 441-1526, www.chrysler.org/houses.asp. Open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday, noon-4 p.m. Sunday. Free

The Federal-period home built in 1792 by a prominent Jewish entrepreneur, Moses Myers, contains many furnishings original to the family.

 

Nauticus, 1 Waterside Drive, (757) 664-1000, www.nauticus.org. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily Memorial Day-Labor Day. Rest of the year: Open 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, noon-5 p.m. Sunday. Admission: adults, $10.95; children 4-12, $8.50; seniors, AAA members and military, $9.95.

Nauticus, which includes exhibits on science and the area’s rich maritime history, is home to a shark-petting lagoon, touch tanks and more. Visitors can try such hands-on activities as designing their own battleship, then tour a real one – The Wisconsin, docked just outside. Also houses the Hampton Roads Naval Museum.

 

Norfolk History Museum At the Willoughby-Baylor House, 601 E. Freemason St., (757) 441-1526, www.chrysler.org/houses.asp. Open 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. Wednesday- Saturday, noon-4 p.m. Sunday. Free

The house, built in 1794, features exhibits that highlight Norfolk’s history as a seaport, commercial center and naval installation.

 

Norfolk Botanical Garden, 6700 Azalea Garden Road, (757) 441-5830, www.norfolkbotanicalgarden.org. Open 9 a.m.-7 p.m. daily April through Oct. 15; 9 a.m.- 5 p.m. daily Oct. 16 through March. adults, $7; children 3-18, $5; children 2 and younger, free; seniors and active military, $6

Visitors will discover one of the largest collections of azaleas, camellias, roses and rhododendrons on the East Coast. Also featured are the 3-acre World of Wonders, a children’s garden full of sprinklers, trails, habitats from around the world and even a section called “The Dirt Factory.” There are more than 20 themed gardens, including the Bristow Butterfly Garden, Bicentennial Rose Garden, Virginia Native Plant Garden and Annette Kagan Healing Garden.

 

Ocean View Station Museum, 111 W. Ocean View Ave., inside the Pretlow Library, (757) 531-0445, www.ovsm.org. Open 2-6 p.m. Wednesday-Friday, noon-3 p.m. Saturday, 1-3 p.m. Sunday

The museum, now in its new location at the Pretlow Library, is dedicated to preserving the history of the Ocean View community when it was a streetcar station in the 1800s.

 

Pagoda Garden Tea House and Gallery, 265 W. Tazewell St., www.PagodaGarden.org. Restaurant, (757) 622-0506

A gift of the Pro-vincial Government of Taiwan of the Republic of China in 1989, artisans from Taiwan created the Pagoda from a round storage tank that had stood on the site. Catch the view from the second-story deck and enjoy dining in the Pagoda Garden Tea House.

 

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 201 St. Paul’s Blvd., www.saintpaulsnorfolk.com

Norfolk’s only remaining pre-Revolutionary War building, St. Paul’s was built in 1739 and served as the city’s first burying ground. Severely damaged by the bombardment of Norfolk by British ships on Jan. 1, 1776, the church still has a cannonball lodged in its south wall.

 

Tours

Cannonball Trail: Self-guided walking tour. Starts at the Freemason Street Reception Center at 401 East Freemason St., (757) 441-1526. Free. www.norfolkcvb.com.

This tour connects 40 historic sites and popular attractions in downtown Norfolk. Allow at least two hours to see the sites and read the narrative plaques. Just follow the granite inlays and medallions in the sidewalk to step into history. Norfolk Naval Station: Hampton Roads Transit offers daily Norfolk Naval Station bus tours. The Norfolk tour leaves from the tour center at 9079 Hampton Blvd. Photo ID is required to enter military bases. Adults are $7.50; children younger than 12 are $5. For schedules, call (757) 444-7955 or visit www.gohrt.com.

 

Virginia Zoo, 3500 Granby St., (757) 441-2374, www.virginiazoo.org. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily. Admission: adults, $7; children 2-11, $5; seniors, $6

With more than 350 animals and counting, the zoo has wild creatures from around the world. Recently, the zoo welcomed an escape-prone red panda, a camel named Hercules and a pair of lion cubs, and is preparing a major expansion of its tiger habitat. The zoo offers a peek at nightlife in the jungle, with a display of nocturnal animals that include a prehensile-tailed porcupine, an ocelot and a sloth. Outdoors, the zoo is home to lush gardens and vegetable patches.

 

Weyanoke Sanctuary, 1501 Armistead Bridge Road

A well-kept secret among birdwatchers, this seven-acre sanctuary nestled in West Ghent also is home to more than 150 species of flowers, shrubs and trees. The sanctuary also features pine-needled trails that zigzag through the woods and meadows.