Episode 15
The Last Army fort created by George Washington - Fort Norfolk
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In the late 1700s, George Washington ordered the building of Army Forts at key locations throughout Virginia...Fort Norfolk was one of those locations. While the buildings didn't come along until 1810, the history and constant usage of this fort is one of a kind, and the stories we learned you couldn't make up!
Video - First Battle of Ironclads | On Location at Fort Norfolk
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Transcript
[Music]
Speaker:greetings and welcome to the talk with
Speaker:History Podcast I'm your host Scott here
Speaker:with my wife and historian Jen hello on
Speaker:this podcast we talk about history's
Speaker:continuing impact on us in our personal
Speaker:journey through YouTube as we continue
Speaker:to explore record and share our history
Speaker:walks with you
Speaker:you may have heard about the Monitor and
Speaker:the Merrimack Ironclad ships that were
Speaker:instrumental during the American Civil
Speaker:War I know I did I learned it in high
Speaker:school but did you know that the first
Speaker:ever Ironclad battle was right here in
Speaker:Norfolk Virginia changing the face of
Speaker:Naval Warfare forever in just four hours
Speaker:so Jen
Speaker:where did we visit today and why is this
Speaker:place so important
Speaker:[Music]
Speaker:we went to Fort Norfolk and I I want to
Speaker:make sure I say it like a native so it's
Speaker:it's Norfolk yeah the the the locals
Speaker:here they they don't use the r it's
Speaker:nafak
Speaker:so not it looks like Norfolk yes but no
Speaker:[ __ ] and so it's named after a place in
Speaker:England
Speaker:um but one of the earliest cities here
Speaker:in America we're on the coast of
Speaker:Virginia and George Washington had
Speaker:ordered some forts to be built to guard
Speaker:the Atlantic side of well at the time
Speaker:was the only side of America and so Fort
Speaker:Norfolk was ordered when he was
Speaker:president to be built in the late 1700s
Speaker:and it's the only one that Still Remains
Speaker:to this day
Speaker:of course the other ones think in
Speaker:DC area of course have been rebuilt or
Speaker:used for something else and even our
Speaker:tour guide today you know he said like
Speaker:this fort right I mean it's been around
Speaker:for 212 years yes 18. 17 18 10. well it
Speaker:was it was it was first dug out Earth
Speaker:Earthen works right in the 1700s that's
Speaker:right and then the first bricks were
Speaker:laid in the 1800s yeah and so even like
Speaker:the literally the buildings
Speaker:I mean we were walking on original yes
Speaker:you know where they used to walk right
Speaker:and there's all sorts of interesting
Speaker:stories and stuff like that it's 212
Speaker:years old the the green doors that you
Speaker:see in our in the video that come in
Speaker:through the little Archway yes those
Speaker:doors are 212 years old and
Speaker:the reason why I guess it survived all
Speaker:this time it it was used for the Civil
Speaker:War it was it was a retrofitted during
Speaker:World War One and World War II to be
Speaker:used by the Army Corps of Engineers they
Speaker:used it for Logistics they used it as
Speaker:offices Communications places and then
Speaker:they built a bigger more modern building
Speaker:outside of the fort and just kind of
Speaker:moved over to there and they never tore
Speaker:down the Old Fort yeah it's it's prime
Speaker:location it's on the waterfront in
Speaker:Norfolk but it's not so Prime that it
Speaker:ever was
Speaker:basically destroyed so it's still there
Speaker:well and I think what they said too was
Speaker:and it's so common even today right is
Speaker:they filled in certain areas around you
Speaker:know where where that was so there's so
Speaker:there's like part of the harbor and you
Speaker:know and yeah has been filled in with
Speaker:yeah you know whatever yes
Speaker:at the time of the Ironclad battle you
Speaker:could see the battle from Fort Norfolk
Speaker:now you couldn't be able to see it they
Speaker:have filled in they basically have built
Speaker:Landing yeah ships can't come that close
Speaker:yeah so you wouldn't be able to see it
Speaker:today but at the time you could see it
Speaker:so I just thought it was really neat
Speaker:to go there and to not only talk about
Speaker:the history of the fort but two iron
Speaker:clads so it's such a neat idea that this
Speaker:was the first place the two ironclads
Speaker:met and battled right and and the
Speaker:ironclads too is like
Speaker:like I said in the intro the monitor in
Speaker:the miramak I remember those from high
Speaker:school they talk about how you know
Speaker:these two ironclads kind of shoot each
Speaker:other and nothing happens nothing
Speaker:happens I think the canning balls keep
Speaker:bouncing off so I so I had known that
Speaker:story generally from high school
Speaker:but then all of a sudden when you say
Speaker:hey I want to go to Fort Norfolk I was
Speaker:like what's in Fort Norfolk like again
Speaker:yeah like it's another Fort okay we're
Speaker:doing a walk with history let's go to
Speaker:Fort Norfolk what's what what's
Speaker:interesting about Fort Norfolk and you
Speaker:say well the the first two iron the very
Speaker:first ironclad battle the monitor of the
Speaker:Merrimack it wasn't actually the
Speaker:Merrimack well I guess you can talk
Speaker:about that Virginia they fought right
Speaker:there that was their first battle and
Speaker:then everybody after that was like yeah
Speaker:we want that we're gonna make more of
Speaker:those yes so and you know you and I love
Speaker:movies and if you see Sahara
Speaker:there's an iron clad right with Matthew
Speaker:McConaughey that is the CSS Texas
Speaker:for this for the movie but you see the
Speaker:Ironclad what it looks like how it's
Speaker:floating through the water and how it
Speaker:basically gets away but that's that ship
Speaker:that very basic metal whole ship how
Speaker:they built it the very first one so you
Speaker:can think of just how angular it was and
Speaker:how basic it was
Speaker:and they've been used in Warfare so what
Speaker:happened why why you keep saying Meramec
Speaker:Merrimack why you keep saying Merrimack
Speaker:when actually it was the CSS Virginia
Speaker:right so the Confederacy had taken the
Speaker:Merrimack and they had retrofitted the
Speaker:hull and iron plated it and called it
Speaker:the CSS Virginia so when they say the
Speaker:first two battle the first battle of the
Speaker:two ironclads it's really the CSS
Speaker:Virginia and the monitor the USS monitor
Speaker:CSS Virginia so when you hear that
Speaker:people will say
Speaker:Merrimack and monitor but it's Virginia
Speaker:and monitor
Speaker:it's just so neat so neopins
Speaker:when
Speaker:yeah
Speaker:secedes from the Union
Speaker:then that happens in April of 1861 the
Speaker:union is forced to leave and abandon the
Speaker:city and the fort and the Confederacy
Speaker:takes over the fort now they only have
Speaker:it for 13 months but in that 13 months
Speaker:is when this battle is going to take
Speaker:place it happens in March of 1862.
Speaker:and so March 8th what happens
Speaker:is
Speaker:the union that has been kind of
Speaker:blockading the area and unable to get
Speaker:supplies up to Richmond because if you
Speaker:know anything about the Chesapeake Bay
Speaker:you have to go through there to get up
Speaker:to Richmond and the Richmond is of
Speaker:course
Speaker:the
Speaker:the capital of the Confederacy it has
Speaker:the heart yes so it's where Jefferson
Speaker:Davis is this is the capital so they
Speaker:want to fight back and they the Virginia
Speaker:they they were the first ones to do this
Speaker:put iron around the ship comes in
Speaker:contact with two other ships and it
Speaker:fights the Congress and the Cumberland
Speaker:and these are wooden chips Wooden Ships
Speaker:U.S Navy
Speaker:Union Wooden Ships and they destroy them
Speaker:one I think is sunk the other one is
Speaker:just completely disabled because because
Speaker:the Wooden Ships can't do any damage you
Speaker:can't do any damage can't move if you
Speaker:know anything about Wooden Ships you
Speaker:have to get right up beside a wooden
Speaker:ship so they can put their cannons out
Speaker:and fire at you like it can't your guns
Speaker:are very
Speaker:rudimentary cemented can't move them
Speaker:around you gotta move the whole ship to
Speaker:yeah these iron clouds not only could
Speaker:now have metal but they had learned how
Speaker:to put guns on turrets and fire in
Speaker:different directions and so it made the
Speaker:chip be much more versatile and where it
Speaker:was it could fire at you from any
Speaker:position
Speaker:and so they had already they've already
Speaker:taken two Union ships and they're about
Speaker:to take a third the Minnesota is also
Speaker:there now the Minnesota to almost kind
Speaker:of save itself runs the ground
Speaker:that way it doesn't get sunk it runs the
Speaker:ground and the Virginia by that time has
Speaker:used all of its ammunition
Speaker:and comes back to Fort Norfolk to get
Speaker:ammunition again for no Focus being
Speaker:it's being run by the Confederacy and
Speaker:the big draw of that Fort is the
Speaker:magazine so it's the biggest building
Speaker:and so that was one of the cool things
Speaker:just to kind of interrupt the story here
Speaker:so one of the cool things is they show
Speaker:us like where the magazine was we
Speaker:couldn't go in that particular building
Speaker:no I think they were fixing in yeah they
Speaker:were fixing it up and there was a lot of
Speaker:work being done at the Fort this isn't
Speaker:like a wasn't a full-blown like
Speaker:over-the-top like highly produced for
Speaker:Museum but there's the folks told us
Speaker:about some but
Speaker:um one of the cool things was uh what
Speaker:was the the pull that yeah so the magic
Speaker:Transportation was right beside like a
Speaker:rail that's right almost like a train
Speaker:rail yeah and they used mules they would
Speaker:load up the ammunition onto the mule and
Speaker:they would just pull it right out to the
Speaker:point out and out to the ships yeah and
Speaker:they the reason they had moved
Speaker:ammunition to Fort no Focus the ship
Speaker:building was a little bit further away
Speaker:and at the one point they had put the
Speaker:magazine right beside the shipyard and
Speaker:somebody thank goodness was smart enough
Speaker:to go hey maybe we shouldn't have all of
Speaker:these explosives right beside all this
Speaker:wood where we're building ships we this
Speaker:blows up we're going to destroy
Speaker:everything lose everything why don't we
Speaker:move it away oh my gosh there's a fort
Speaker:down there and we can build this big
Speaker:magazine yeah there's a there's a yard
Speaker:here that they use for drilling yes and
Speaker:they break for drill practice and they
Speaker:built a building there so and then all
Speaker:right so so that's just me interrupting
Speaker:because you know I'm the host and I get
Speaker:to do that once in a while
Speaker:um so so they're rearming they're
Speaker:rearming for the night so this is March
Speaker:8th going into the night the next day is
Speaker:March 9th 1862. during the night the
Speaker:monitor so the union also is making a
Speaker:metal ship they're also making an
Speaker:ironclad and so during the night the
Speaker:monitor comes down the coast and stands
Speaker:and gets in front of the Minnesota
Speaker:basically to defend the Minnesota and
Speaker:honestly it uses the fire from the
Speaker:Minnesota to find it yeah so at night
Speaker:aim towards the smoke so they get in
Speaker:front of it so when the Virginia comes
Speaker:back out the next morning to finish what
Speaker:they started they're met with the
Speaker:Monitor and the Monitor and the Virginia
Speaker:just go at it three to four hours just
Speaker:firing at each other and shooting each
Speaker:other and no damage neither sink neither
Speaker:have damage they kind of call it a draw
Speaker:and in that moment
Speaker:[Music]
Speaker:naval ship building Changes Worldwide
Speaker:yeah and Naval Warfare yeah everyone's
Speaker:paying attention Wooden Ships are
Speaker:obsolete nobody makes them anymore for
Speaker:Naval battles now it's all metal the
Speaker:people are seeing how strong this is how
Speaker:you can basically fight a war and you're
Speaker:not going to have any damage so
Speaker:everything changes when it comes to
Speaker:building
Speaker:ships from that battle Yeah that's that
Speaker:was really cool and like when you're at
Speaker:the Fort too so
Speaker:um what you can see right now is that
Speaker:they've it's a work in progress right so
Speaker:I think it's the norfolkest or
Speaker:historical society and some other folks
Speaker:who are kind of helping kind of continue
Speaker:to to work on Fort Norfolk and God bless
Speaker:them if you hear this and you know
Speaker:people who can help donate you know look
Speaker:them up they're really um
Speaker:they're working on preservation but they
Speaker:definitely need the funds and the help
Speaker:to do it yeah and but one of the cool
Speaker:Parts is is like the the Earthen kind of
Speaker:dig out is still kind of the same shape
Speaker:that it was back then so you can
Speaker:actually walk up the hill right and if
Speaker:this is like the dirt that they piled
Speaker:back in the late 1700s exactly right you
Speaker:walk on top of this and you can see out
Speaker:over the water now there is the modern
Speaker:building that you mentioned before but
Speaker:before that modern building was there
Speaker:you could see the entire Harbor in the
Speaker:entire Bay right there it's a key
Speaker:strategic point it was a great point and
Speaker:those Earthworks they are preserved just
Speaker:like if you go to Yorktown yeah the
Speaker:Earthworks are preserved where the
Speaker:revolutionaries dug in so you can see
Speaker:that this is this was done in the late
Speaker:1700s early 1800s this was done by the
Speaker:men there and it still stands today
Speaker:foreign
Speaker:and one of the the neat little asides
Speaker:that our tour guide told us about was
Speaker:um the little brick embankment built
Speaker:into the side of one of those do you
Speaker:remember that yeah he said it was the
Speaker:commanding officer's wife wanted a
Speaker:gazebo yeah it was or like uh yeah it
Speaker:was like the kernel right so the colonel
Speaker:who was in charge of that base at
Speaker:whatever time I don't think he knew it
Speaker:was like I don't know the early 1900s
Speaker:yeah it was probably the 30s or yeah and
Speaker:uh so I guess the Colonel's wife wanted
Speaker:a gazebo so the colonel said build my
Speaker:wife a gazebo over there Fort Norfolk
Speaker:and so she had her gazebo and the tour
Speaker:guide was great because he said he can
Speaker:just picture
Speaker:you know the Colonel's wife sitting
Speaker:there in her gazebo drinking mint juleps
Speaker:you know looking out over the water
Speaker:which you know when we went which was
Speaker:today for us
Speaker:um it was super windy
Speaker:um but I can see on a nice day it was
Speaker:gorgeous and she's looking out over the
Speaker:water of course yeah it's beautiful
Speaker:[Music]
Speaker:so that battle is called the Battle of
Speaker:Hampton Roads so when people say the
Speaker:first two ironclads that met in the
Speaker:Battle of Hampton Roads that's that's
Speaker:what it was yeah and
Speaker:yeah so after that it's not long until
Speaker:the Union's going to take Norfolk
Speaker:they're going to be occupied in May of
Speaker:1862. so this happens in March so you
Speaker:think March April May the union has
Speaker:taken Norfolk again and they're going to
Speaker:hold it for the rest of the Civil War so
Speaker:Norfolk is not again the Confederacy is
Speaker:only at that Fort for about a year and
Speaker:then it's taken over by the union again
Speaker:and then what's depicted in the movie
Speaker:Sahara we talked about this
Speaker:is the fall of Richmond so the fall of
Speaker:Richmond happens in early
Speaker:April 1865. so you we know we're going
Speaker:to have the surrender happen in about a
Speaker:week follow Richmond happens April 4th
Speaker:and then the cement is going to happen a
Speaker:couple days after that and so in the
Speaker:fall of Richmond
Speaker:what's depicted in Sahara is the CSS
Speaker:Texas gets away and the CSS Texas does
Speaker:have the reputation of being the best
Speaker:constructed Ironclad it was I mean by
Speaker:that time you're getting better and
Speaker:better were they constructing did I
Speaker:don't know if our tour guide talked
Speaker:about this but did were they
Speaker:constructing these ironclads like where
Speaker:the ships are being built today yes okay
Speaker:yes
Speaker:that's where they were doing it yeah
Speaker:that's cool but I think the Texas were
Speaker:being built closer built closer up to
Speaker:Richmond okay because it was it's like
Speaker:almost maiden voyage
Speaker:right for the movie for the movie and
Speaker:and in real life because what happens so
Speaker:the CSS Texas in real life doesn't even
Speaker:get to make a maiden voyage it actually
Speaker:is taken during the the fall of Richmond
Speaker:and
Speaker:the union basically sells it for scrap
Speaker:in 1867. so it comes down to Norfolk to
Speaker:be sold for scrap
Speaker:so but in the in the movie Sahara it's
Speaker:making it's gets away right with all the
Speaker:with all the goals with all the
Speaker:competitors because they don't want it
Speaker:to fall into the Union hands but to make
Speaker:that ship for the movie they use the
Speaker:Virginia
Speaker:the model of the model of the Virginia
Speaker:or was it the monitor
Speaker:I can remember that I remember one or
Speaker:the other but they used one of them that
Speaker:actually was the actual ship in the
Speaker:Battle of Hampton Roads that's cool and
Speaker:they used that ship as the model so
Speaker:that's what you're seeing in the movie
Speaker:even though it's supposed to be the CSS
Speaker:Texas yeah I love that movie that's such
Speaker:a great movie it's probably Texas
Speaker:because Matthew McConaughey's from Texas
Speaker:sure why not you know you know if you're
Speaker:gonna stretch uh stretch history for
Speaker:facts for some Hollywood stuff uh why
Speaker:not make it to your hometown yes
Speaker:so there was um 11 buildings there's a
Speaker:main gate building there's a carpenter's
Speaker:building when you first walk into the
Speaker:right there's officer's quarters there's
Speaker:the Armory like we talked about the the
Speaker:machine the magazine yep and then
Speaker:there's enlisted quarters and then there
Speaker:is a what was it to make the water a
Speaker:cistern yeah to make clean water since
Speaker:the rain that was up higher on one of
Speaker:the embankments right natural gravity
Speaker:that's uh it makes sense but it's been
Speaker:it's it's been a fort since the American
Speaker:Revolution we're 1812 Civil War so it's
Speaker:been there for a while yeah and I what I
Speaker:thought one of the interesting things
Speaker:and one of the kind of interesting
Speaker:characters that our our guide talked
Speaker:about was
Speaker:um The Hermit so the so the interesting
Speaker:thing about this fort so think about you
Speaker:know 200 plus years right and if you
Speaker:think all the way back to the late 1700s
Speaker:200 let's just say 250 240 years right
Speaker:it has changed hands it's been active
Speaker:and non-active one of the reasons that
Speaker:it got taken
Speaker:was that it was undermanned right so it
Speaker:had been taken to Naval battles that had
Speaker:been taken in land battles and all this
Speaker:stuff and at one point it was basically
Speaker:abandoned yeah what do you remember what
Speaker:era this was in I think I'm looking
Speaker:there was this hermit that moves into
Speaker:Fort Norfolk because it was essentially
Speaker:abandoned right the Army in the Navy
Speaker:wasn't using it anymore and so he was
Speaker:like you know what that looks nice and
Speaker:cozy over there I'm gonna go move in and
Speaker:he lives at Fort Norfolk for
Speaker:a decent amount of time because he
Speaker:actually does work he does upkeep on it
Speaker:he puts a roof on one of the buildings
Speaker:and then eventually
Speaker:um eventually one of the one of the
Speaker:services says yeah we want that back so
Speaker:they come and basically kick him out
Speaker:and he he gets all worked up about it
Speaker:because he's been living there probably
Speaker:for a couple years
Speaker:and
Speaker:he he's basically tries to sue slash
Speaker:send a bill to the government saying hey
Speaker:I did all this work and I did all this
Speaker:upkeep on North Fort Norfolk I put a
Speaker:roof on it on one of the buildings
Speaker:um you guys owe me money and I don't
Speaker:think anything ever actually came out of
Speaker:it because it's not like he was hired to
Speaker:do that but I was just such an
Speaker:interesting little tidbit
Speaker:um
Speaker:that our tour guide shared with us yes
Speaker:so I'm meeting here the fourth set with
Speaker:an unofficial caretaker status until
Speaker:1849 the meal Fentress yes the real
Speaker:event and he'd been living alone in the
Speaker:offices quarters that's right so for the
Speaker:past couple decades and he and he had
Speaker:been like a volunteer yes like a like a
Speaker:volunteer Soldier and so I had never
Speaker:gotten to live in one of the buildings
Speaker:yes because the buildings were for like
Speaker:not the basically the non-volunteers
Speaker:like the officers and the actual the
Speaker:actual military and if you were a
Speaker:volunteer you lived in tents out outside
Speaker:of the the building so he went into the
Speaker:building and took care of it and he said
Speaker:he put a roof on and then he
Speaker:files a bill he demands payment of
Speaker:fifteen hundred dollars for taking care
Speaker:of the government works and he signs the
Speaker:bill with an X and it's actually at the
Speaker:National Archives oh is it really yeah
Speaker:that's what he said oh my gosh bill is
Speaker:at The Archives now there's no proof
Speaker:that he was ever paid but that bill and
Speaker:that writing is at The Archives that was
Speaker:just one of the most entertaining asides
Speaker:of like yeah here's a super interesting
Speaker:character that has inserted himself as
Speaker:has had his tail told for the past you
Speaker:know 150 years now about here's the
Speaker:hermit that moved into North Fort
Speaker:Norfolk and charged the government money
Speaker:for upkeep that he did while he was
Speaker:living here yes um I just it just kind
Speaker:of made me smile
Speaker:um the other thing that I will say is
Speaker:that our kids had plenty of questions oh
Speaker:yeah for and God bless the tour guide
Speaker:yeah yes and they they loved it it was a
Speaker:great tour I recommend you take it it's
Speaker:free
Speaker:and the kids had plenty of questions
Speaker:just about life in general for people
Speaker:who lived in the fort they had
Speaker:they there are some stories about
Speaker:prisoners being held at the Fort and
Speaker:they do believe that they took a
Speaker:profiteering ship during the Civil War
Speaker:yeah they had some yeah
Speaker:and the men
Speaker:wrote on the walls with pencil yeah and
Speaker:they did had some carvings in the
Speaker:ceiling yes they carved their names and
Speaker:stuff they tried to preserve that so you
Speaker:can see that as well now it's there's
Speaker:other claims of prisoners but this this
Speaker:is the one that's actually like has
Speaker:provenance and facts that they could
Speaker:find but it's it's a very interesting
Speaker:place and it's like very old and it has
Speaker:a like there's original doors like you
Speaker:had said there's original Metal Works
Speaker:there's a you're standing on the
Speaker:original floors you're looking at
Speaker:original beams and it really has been
Speaker:used and not just used for like storage
Speaker:like it was used in World War II yes
Speaker:right the communications that our tour
Speaker:guide talked about he said about five
Speaker:years ago okay so as we're recording
Speaker:this is 2022 and he said about five
Speaker:years ago so let's just say in 2017 he
Speaker:said this 80 80 to 90 year old lady came
Speaker:with you know what may have been her son
Speaker:or something like that came to visit
Speaker:they were looking around she couldn't
Speaker:even make it up the step she and she
Speaker:just her comment was kind of an aside
Speaker:she said I just wanted to see the fort
Speaker:again
Speaker:and so
Speaker:he that that caught his attention and he
Speaker:said oh well what do you mean and so it
Speaker:turns out that she had been like the
Speaker:lead Communications person
Speaker:at the Fort you know for a number of
Speaker:years and I don't know it wasn't during
Speaker:World War II but it was it was a World
Speaker:War II I love how you have to listen to
Speaker:a story yeah you crack me up baby but it
Speaker:was just it was just so interesting to
Speaker:lead Communications for World War II in
Speaker:that room breaking codes and messages
Speaker:from Germany in that room that's so it
Speaker:kind of shows you where are things
Speaker:happening that are not even close or
Speaker:connected to where the actual fight is
Speaker:going on sure but yes and so we were
Speaker:looking at how that Old Guard house was
Speaker:retrofitted for wires and power and
Speaker:that's when
Speaker:after World War II they build that new
Speaker:modern building because that's the the
Speaker:core of army Engineers so that's who she
Speaker:worked for so she's getting plans and
Speaker:stuff from them trying to help them with
Speaker:World War II
Speaker:so yeah you're funny I love how I love
Speaker:doing history with you babe but again I
Speaker:just thought that was super interesting
Speaker:because here's something that has like
Speaker:legitimately been used right it's it's
Speaker:not there's some spots that we visit
Speaker:where people knew in the earlier
Speaker:mid-1800s are like hey we need to
Speaker:preserve this this is going to be
Speaker:We're Not Gonna We're Not Gonna use this
Speaker:it's gonna be preserved right and so
Speaker:it's been preserved for 100 years 150
Speaker:years or whatever like that this is
Speaker:something that has been used
Speaker:for 200 plus years yeah it just I think
Speaker:it went on the historic places in
Speaker:1975 but it just reminds me Norfolk is
Speaker:very much like this
Speaker:we have that building why don't you use
Speaker:that building like the the city owns
Speaker:certain buildings and when they're
Speaker:thinking of we need this and we need it
Speaker:now and you can think of wartime when
Speaker:you know supplies are scarce you're like
Speaker:we have we have the fort retro hit the
Speaker:fort put it in the fort I mean it's it's
Speaker:solid there and you probably have very
Speaker:good you know conductivity and frequency
Speaker:and you could probably watch you know
Speaker:things happen real time let's put the
Speaker:stuff at the Fort so Norfolk recycles
Speaker:their buildings like that and that's
Speaker:what happened with the MacArthur
Speaker:Memorial so when we talk about that I
Speaker:mean that was the old city hall of
Speaker:Norfolk and now it's uh Memorial to
Speaker:General Douglas MacArthur so they do
Speaker:that they're very I have to say they're
Speaker:very good at recycling their buildings
Speaker:here
Speaker:[Music]
Speaker:again this
Speaker:caught my eye you know it was a little
Speaker:maybe a little more interesting because
Speaker:I was trying to listen to the tour guide
Speaker:but I was also trying to manage uh
Speaker:Madison to keep her from asking too many
Speaker:questions that only a six-year-old can
Speaker:ask but well Fort Norfolk it may not
Speaker:ring a bell to many people if the walls
Speaker:of that Fort could talk they would tell
Speaker:Tales of Soldiers and Sailors land
Speaker:battles and Naval Warfare
Speaker:it was an honor to visit the last
Speaker:remaining fortification that President
Speaker:George Washington ordered to be built
Speaker:for Harbor defenses in the late 1700s
Speaker:so again thank you and thank you
Speaker:listening for talk to the talk with
Speaker:History Podcast and please reach out to
Speaker:us at our website talk with history.com
Speaker:but more importantly if you know someone
Speaker:else that might enjoy this podcast
Speaker:please share this with them especially
Speaker:if you think today's topic would
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Speaker:all every day we'll talk to you next
Speaker:time thank you
Speaker:foreign
