They no longer charge a bale of hay for the ferry ride across the Elizabeth River; now it's 75 cents.  That's still an inexpensive way of getting out where the action is---the busy Norfolk-Portsmouth Harbor.

This waterway has been important since the earliest days of the Virginia colony.  An exploration party led by Captain John Smith sailed up the Elizabeth River in 1608.  Adam Thoroughgood, who arrived in 1621 as an indentured servant, operated the first ferry service in 1636 (see Adam Thoroughgood House in Virginia Beach selection). Adam owned a small skiff and had two oarsmen who would take passengers across the river.  Stories were told that his helpers would hide in the marsh grass until enough passengers arrived to make it profitable, but then the stories also claimed that Adam was paid in bales of hay.

Ferry service between Portsmouth and Norfolk, the oldest continuous public ferry in the country, reached its zenith in the 1940s when there were diesel ferries for passenger cars.  Once the tunnel connected the two cities in 1955, the ferry service was discontinued.   In the early 1980s, ferry service resumed and has proven quite popular.  The ferry runs daily throughout the year and has extended hours from April through October. The ferry leaves Portside on the hour and the half hour and Waterside in Norfolk at 15 and 45 minutes past the hour.

The Carrie B offers 1 ½-hour afternoon cruises and 2 ½-hour sunset sails.  The Carrie B is a replica of a 19th-century Mississippi riverboat.  It cruises past the world's largest working shipyard, the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, founded in 1767 when Virginia was still a British colony.  During the Civil War when federal troops had to abandon the Norfolk navy yard, they sank the U.S. Frigate Merricmack.  The Confederates raised the ship and in 1861-62 reconstructed the ironclad C.S.S.Virginia upon the hull of Merrimack in drydock here.  This ship took part in the famous Battle of the Ironclads that changed the course of shipbuilding. This is the nation's oldest drydock, but technology has kept pace with the changes in ship design.  The navy sends many of its modern supercarriers, submarines and missile ships here for repairs.

The Carrie B leaves from Norfolk, stopping at Portside 15 minutes later.  From mid-April through  October, cruises sail at 12:10 and 2:10 P.M.  There are sunset cruises at 6:10 P.M. from June through Labor Day.

Whether you opt for the brief ferry trip or the longer cruise, your interest in nautical matters is likely to be piqued.  Portside has two museums to satisfy your curiosity.  The Portsmouth Lightship Museum at London Slip is located in a ship that never sailed but gave long service.  Lightships combined the attributes of lighthouses and buoys; their lighted masts resembled the former and they floated like the latter.  They had an additional benefit in that they could move from place to place.  As they changed locations they frequently changed names.  The lightship now permanently docked at London Slip was first called Charles, then Overfalls, Nantucket Relief, Stonehorse and, just before retiring in 1964, it was called Cross Rip.  In addition to seeing the inside of one of these old lightships you'll see Coast Guard equipment, uniforms and old photographs.  You are welcome aboard at no charge Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. and Sunday from 1:00 to 5:00 P.M.

Open during the same hours is the adjacent Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum.  One of this museum's most interesting displays is the 1776 map of Portsmouth.  An audio-visual program uses the map to acquaint you with life in colonial Portsmouth.  You'll also see the plans of John L. Porter for the conversion of the Merrimack (these are the plans he hid in his home nearby, see Portsmouth Walking Tour selection).  Old tools, weapons, ship models and uniforms fill the cases at this maritime museum.