Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Frank and Gloria Womble

This is the fifteenth in a series of articles leading up to the Lafayette Farewell Tour Bicentennial celebration. For earlier articles, see suffolkva250/history

The Suffolk Lafayette Bicentennial Committee is pleased to announce that TowneBank will be our Presenting Sponsor for the opening of the Lafayette Memorabilia Exhibit, “Celebrate Lafayette:  Soldier, Statesman, Champion of Human Rights” on Jan. 23, 2025, at the Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts and also the Lafayette Bicentennial Banquet on February 25 at the Hilton Garden Inn Suffolk Riverfront. Additional events include Lafayette’s arrival at the Visitor’s Center on Feb. 23, and a reception on February 26 at the Washington Smith Ordinary in Somerton. 

As we prepare for our Bicentennial events in Suffolk, the commemoration of Lafayette’s visit to Hampton Roads continues with unique events in Portsmouth from Oct. 23 to 26, at Fort Monroe on Oct. 24, and in Norfolk from Oct. 26 and 27. For more details on the events highlighted below, please see Lafayette200.org.

On Oct. 23 through Oct. 25, Hill House Museum, 221 North Street, Portsmouth, will open for tours from noon until 3 p.m. 

At 7 p.m. on Oct. 23, Moses Myers remembers Lafayette at the Jewish Museum and Cultural Center, 607 Effingham Street, Portsmouth. 

Lafayette will be entertained at a cocktail reception at the Historic Chamberlin on Fort Monroe on Oct. 24 from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. This event will echo the reception that Lafayette enjoyed when he was at the fort as the overnight guest of commanding officer Colonel Abraham Eustis in 1824.

Portsmouth City Park will host unique events to celebrate Lafayette Day in Portsmouth on Oct. 25. At 9 a.m., the Fort Nelson Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution will rededicate the Lafayette Centennial Monument, originally placed in October 1924. The Virginia State Regent, Laurie Nesbitt, will preside. 

The Virginia Youth Regiment’s Revolutionary War encampment will be in the park from 10:00 a.m. to noon. When Lafayette visited Portsmouth in 1824, he looked on as citizens reenacted the Battle of Scotts Creek. Lafayette will once again be present as the Virginia Youth Regiment recreates this skirmish at 10:00 a.m. Guests can visit the regiment’s encampment and learn what life was like for a soldier or camp follower. Members of the Ethiopian and 1st Rhode Island Regiments will be on hand to explain which side they chose and why.

The children of Portsmouth will greet Lafayette at North Landing at 2 p.m. with a children’s arch ceremony and bid him farewell as he departs in his carriage.

At 3 p.m., Lafayette will visit the historic Emanuel AME Church at 637 North Street. He will be greeted by Nathan Richardson, who will be interpreting Frederick Douglas. They will be welcomed by Pastor Sylvester and Mrs. “Frankie” Colvin for a 20-minute program, including a history of the church and a brief address by Lafayette.

The procession to the Triumphal Arch in Olde Town Portsmouth will begin at 3:30 p.m., including stops at Trinity Church and at the corner of High and Crawford to see the Lafayette Stone. That evening from 7 to 9 p.m., Portsmouth will host a progressive dinner at three historic homes with Lafayette.

The Hill House will host a Lafayette Farewell Tea on Oct. 26, from 1 to 3 p.m. on Oct. 26. Period attire welcomed!

On Oct. 26 at 3:00 p.m., author and historian John V. Quarstein will lecture on “Lafayette’s Victory in the Battle of the Capes” at the Portsmouth Police Headquarters auditorium, 711 Crawford Street. This event is sponsored by Friends of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum.

Norfolk will host a dinner and ball at the Norfolk Yacht and Country Club on Oct. 26 from 6:30 until 9:30 p.m. This event is now sold out.

Finally, the Moses Myers Museum, 323 E. Freemason Street in Norfolk, will feature a lecture and tour the morning of Oct. 27, from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. commemorating Lafayette’s visit through the eyes of the Myers family. See chrysler.org to register.