Norfolk Tides

The Norfolk Tides are a minor league baseball team in the Triple-A International League. They play at Harbor Park in Norfolk, Virginia. Since 2007 they have been a farm team of the Baltimore Orioles; prior to that, they had a 38-year affiliation with the New York Mets.

Franchise history

The franchise began its history in the South Atlantic League in 1961 as the Tidewater Tides, playing at Lawrence Stadium in Portsmouth. The main newspaper of South Hampton Roads, The Virginian-Pilot, ran a contest to determine the team name. Although the chosen name was "Mariners", the Pilot′s editor overruled the contest, deciding he liked the alliteration of "Tidewater Tides."

The Tides spent their first year as an "independent" team with no direct major-league affiliation, but became a St. Louis Cardinals affiliate the following season. However, the South Atlantic League decided to pull out of Virginia in 1963, threatening the future of minor-league baseball in the Hampton Roads area. A local group was able to convince the Carolina League to expand by two teams, one of them being the Tides.

Norfolk

Norfolk /ˈnɔːrfək/ is a county in East Anglia. It borders Lincolnshire to the west and north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea and, to the north-west, The Wash. The county town is Norwich.

With an area of 2,074 square miles and a population of 859,400, Norfolk is a largely rural county with a population density of 401 per square mile. Forty per cent of the county's population live in four major built up areas: Norwich (213,000), Great Yarmouth (63,000), King's Lynn (46,000) and Thetford (25,000).

The Broads is a network of rivers and lakes on the county's east coast, extending south into Suffolk. The area is a National Park and is protected by the Broads Authority.

History

Norfolk was settled in pre-Roman times, with camps along the higher land in the west where flints could be quarried. A Brythonic tribe, the Iceni, inhabited the county from the 1st century BC to the end of the 1st century AD. The Iceni revolted against the Roman invasion in 47 AD, and again in 60 AD led by Boudica. The crushing of the second rebellion opened the county to the Romans. During the Roman era in Norfolk roads and ports were constructed throughout the county and farming took place widely.

Norfolk station (Amtrak)

The Norfolk Amtrak station is located at 280 Park Avenue in downtown Norfolk, Virginia. It is the terminus of a branch of the Northeast Regional service which begins in Boston. Service began on December 12, 2012. This station returned intercity passenger rail service to Norfolk proper for the first time since 1977 when the Mountaineer ended.

The $3.75 million brick and glass depot, financed by the city, opened on December 2, 2013. It was designed by architects and engineers with the Michael Baker Corporation and includes a soaring three story tower. Prior to the depot's completion, passengers only used the concrete platform.

The station is adjacent to the Harbor Park baseball stadium along the Elizabeth River on the eastern edge of downtown. The Tide light rail system has an adjacent station at Harbor Park, allowing for connections from Amtrak to the light rail service.

Routes

References

External links

Norfolk (sloop)

The Colonial sloop Norfolk was built on Norfolk Island in 1798. The 25 ton sloop was constructed from Norfolk Island Pine.

In his book Geoffrey Ingleton states Norfolk "… started life as the longboat of HMS Sirius" This is unfounded, [as it is impossible to widen a boat] Ingleton used the above as his reference.Governor Hunter quickly put Norfolk under the command of Matthew Flinders to be used as a survey vessel. In 1798-99 Norfolk was used by Flinders and Bass to circumnavigate Tasmania – proving the existence of Bass Strait. Flinders also took Norfolk north to chart Cook's Morton's Bay (now Moreton Bay) and Hervey's Bay (Hervey Bay).

Norfolk was then used to supply produce from the Winsor Area to Port Jackson, until 1800 when she was seized by convicts, at the mouth of the Hawkesbury River. Intending to sail her to Maluku, the convicts ran her aground at Stockton on the northern side of the mouth to the Hunter River, today the point is named Pirate Point.

In 1998-99 Bern Cuthbertson OAM from Sandy Bay, Tasmania, re-enacted all of Norfolk{'}s journeys in a replica of Norfolk, constructed of Tasmania Huon and Celery Top pines. The replica Norfolk is now on display at The Bass and Flinders Centre in George Town on Tasmania's Tamar River.