Windmill Point was the final Virginia stronghold of the 4th Earl of Dunmore, the Royal Governor of Virginia, after he had to serially flee from Williamsburg and from Gosport, but the Revolutionary army drove him from the Point in May 1776. He returned to England in July 1776, where the King continued to pay his Virginia salary until 1783. Nice job if you can get it.
Later in 1776, the Revolutionaries built Fort Nelson at the Point, but lost it to the British May in 1779, who occupied it until 1781. Benedict Arnold worked out of British Fort Nelson for a while.
Windmill Point is now known as Hospital Point and it is home to the oldest continuously running hospital in the U.S. Navy. We’ve been anchored off of it, in the Portsmouth waterfront, for a week.
If you come to Portsmouth, the Naval Museum and the Path of History are the recommended highlights, and the Admiral enjoyed the Saturday morning farmer’s market.
The Alférez gazes out at the Elizabeth from the Portsmouth waterfront in a rare moment of quiet in the river. Here we have seen go by countless barges, sloops, cutters, ketches, yawls, powerboats, the USS Ramage (505 feet), Larry Silverstein’s Silver Shalis (174 feet), Michael Saylor’s Usher (154 feet), the Amel Maramu Bearaway, and many others. June 24, iPhone 4S, ISO 50, 1/1493”
We got a kick out of the Airport password in a coffee shop in Portsmouth.