Norfolk, Virginia: A History-Geography from "Discovery" to Development

Norfolk, Virginia: A History-Geography From "Discovery" to Development, the first book of Berent's Encyclopedia of Norfolk Virginia History-Geography, covers Norfolk's remarkable beginnings, reveals its early landowners (recorded in tax lists, censuses, etc.), and describes early real estate development and later controversial Redevelopment, which made Norfolk the first city in the country to receive the federal loan and grant for urban renewal. The book also delves into the 17th- and 18th-century explorations of the New World, identifying the places in Norfolk into which Ralph Lane, Thomas Harriott, John White, John Smith and other explorers first ventured - including native America's largest city in the area, Skicoac (whose exact location in Norfolk remains a mystery to this day).

The book also reveals evidence of Norfolk's earliest native inhabitants, the Chesepians, including later documents that refer to burial grounds and other sacred places, discoveries of artifacts, and several placenames suggestive of early Native American presence that survive to this day. Also described is the establishment of the region's earliest counties, parishes, townships, and magisterial districts.