The waterways which almost completely surround the Hampton Roads region play an important part in the local economy. However, by that time the increased demand from the settlement of the lower South states had created a large internal market for slavery. Thousands of slaves from the region escaped to Union lines to gain freedom; they quickly set up schools in Norfolk to start learning how to read and write, years before the end of the war. Additionally the waterfront area hosts the Nauticus maritime museum and the USS Wisconsin. Zip Code 23511 is located in the state of Virginia in the Norfolk - Newport News - Virginia Beach metro area. Water and sewer services are provided by the city's Department of Utilities. About ten days later, Almond capitulated and asked the General Assembly to rescind several "massive resistance" laws. It also hosts a community college campus in downtown. The Tide light rail service began operations in August 2011. Other routes travel to Smithfield. The median income for a household in the city was $31,815, and the median income for a family was $36,891. For the year 2007 per 100,000, Norfolk experienced 21.1 murders, 42.6 rapes, 399.3 robberies, 381.3 assaults, 743.3 burglaries, and 450.6 automobile thefts. [145] [81] Norfolk has a variety of performing groups with regular seasons. In addition to extensive riverfront property, Norfolk has miles of bayfront resort property and beaches in the Willoughby Spit and Ocean View communities.

[76][77], Nauticus, the National Maritime Center, opened on the downtown waterfront in 1994. [39] Norfolk's record high was 105 °F (41 °C) on August 7, 1918, and July 24 and 25, 2010, and the record low was −3 °F (−19 °C) recorded on January 21, 1985. The libraries offer services such as computer classes, book reviews, tax forms, and online book clubs. Norfolk developed in the late-seventeenth century as a "Half Moone" fort was constructed and 50 acres (200,000 m2) were acquired from local natives of the Powhatan Confederacy in exchange for 10,000 pounds of tobacco. Naval Station Norfolk is a United States Navy base in Norfolk, Virginia, that is the headquarters and home port of the U.S. Navy's Fleet Forces Command. The orchestra also provides musicians for many other performing arts organizations in the area.[85]. The epidemic spread through the city via mosquitoes and poor sanitation, affecting every family and causing widespread panic. The city included the Navy Base and miles of beach property fronting on Hampton Roads and the Chesapeake Bay. Currently, water for the cities of Chesapeake and Virginia Beach is pumped from Lake Gaston (which straddles the Virginia-North Carolina border) into the City of Norfolk's reservoir system and then diverted to the City of Chesapeake for treatment by the City of Chesapeake.

Naval Station Norfolk is home port of four carrier strike groups and their assigned ships.

[122] Norfolk's police department also provides support for neighborhood watch programs including a citizens' training academy, security design, a police athletic program for youth, and business watch programs.[123]. This three-day festival during the third week of June has become one of the largest in the region and, in addition to serving up Cajun cuisine, also features Cajun music.

[124] Additionally, Norfolk has its own general district and circuit courts, which convene downtown. [22] In 1923, the city expanded to include Sewell's Point, Willoughby Spit, the town of Campostella, and the Ocean View area.

"[4], When World War II began in Europe in 1939, the base became more active again. Inside Business serves the regional business community with local business news. the expected highest and lowest temperature readings at any point during the year or given month) calculated based on data at said location from 1981 to 2010. It was one of the largest naval bases in the world. [127] The city also hosts the Governor's School for the Arts which holds performances and classes at the Wells Theatre. Naval Station Norfolk is geographically located in the Southeastern corner of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The population density was 4,362.8 people per square mile (1,684.4/km2). The festival has grown with the industry.

[125] It is considered a Democratic stronghold.

There is also a Spring Wine Festival held during the second weekend of May. [139] Seven airlines provide nonstop services to twenty five destinations. It is linked to its neighbors by an extensive network of interstate highways, bridges, tunnels, and three bridge-tunnel complexes, which are the only bridge-tunnels in the United States.

The French firm CMA CGM, the Israeli firm Zim Integrated Shipping Services, and Maersk Line Limited, a subsidiary of the world's largest shipping line, A. P. Moller-Maersk Group, have their North American headquarters in Norfolk. [34], According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 96 square miles (250 km2), of which 54 square miles (140 km2) is land and 42 square miles (110 km2) (43.9%) is water.

Since Norfolk serves as the commercial and cultural center for the unusual geographical region of Hampton Roads (and in its political structure of independent cities), it can be difficult to separate the economic characteristics of Norfolk from that of the region as a whole. Norfolk also plays host to numerous yearly festivals and parades, mostly at Town Point Park in downtown. Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC MSA, Elizabeth City, North Carolina Micropolitan Statistical Area, List of tallest buildings in Norfolk, Virginia, List of neighborhoods in Norfolk, Virginia, Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championships, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Norfolk Division of the College of William and Mary, United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport, Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters, List of famous people from Hampton Roads (Norfolk), National Register of Historic Places listings in Norfolk, Virginia, "Cultural & Political Chronology (1750–1783)", "Joseph Roberts, Liberia's first President!