Village of Great Bridge

Village of Great Bridge. A Vital Link. , The Great Bridge village evolved to your left, where a bridge spanned the Elizabeth River. An early battle of the Revolution occurred around the bridge on December 9, 1775. The village grew with the completion of the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal. During the Civil War, both Union and Confederate forces used this canal and the Dismal Swamp Canal six miles west of here to transport men and supplies., The Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal, which opened in 1859, connected the South Branch of the Elizabeth River nearby and the North Landing River six miles east. The river empties into Currituck Sound in North Carolina. Great Bridge then contained just a handful of houses. Residents included a physician, a constable, and various canal employees. George Lowe’s hotel housed Irish and English canal workers. Norman Cartwright, a New Yorker, was canal superintendent. James Lyons, another superintendent, and Cornelius Mahoney, canal engineer, shared Cartwight’s house. Farming remained the community’s primary occupation, however., During the war, present-day Chesapeake was largely secessionist in sentiment, and at first the Confederacy controlled the canal. In February 1862, the U.S. Navy sought to block the canal near Currituck Sound but the Confederates blocked it first. After the Union occupation of Norfolk in May, 1862, the Federals cleared the canal of Confederate obstructions and used it until the end of the war. On May 15, 1863, Confederate raiders captured and destroyed two Union steamers operating in the canal near Great Bridge.