Fort Norfolk, a historic fort and national historic district in Norfolk, Virginia, is where you have arrived. Step closer and you can picture the original buildings, erected between 1795 and 1809, that still enclose eleven structures: the main gate, guardhouse, officers' quarters, powder magazine, and carpenter's shop. This is the last remaining fortification of President George Washington's 18th century harbor defenses, later termed the first system of US fortifications.
Long before those brick buildings rose, citizens of Norfolk first fortified this point during the American Revolutionary War to provide harbor defense. The fort sits where the Elizabeth River narrows and was deliberately used with Fort Nelson on the opposite bank in Portsmouth to create a crossfire across the channel. In more modern times Fort Norfolk has served as the district office for the U.S. Army Engineer District, Norfolk since 1923.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 and became a Virginia Landmark in 2013, and today it is preserved and open to the public during the summer. Your eyes can follow the narrowing river across to Portsmouth and the line of defenses once anchored by Fort Nelson.