Meet Mistress Mary Veale and The Colonials

 Mary Veale was the beloved housekeeper of Portsmouth's founder, Colonel William Crawford.  Although she preceded the Colonel in death, he left property to two of her sons, George and Thomas.  In his will, he mentions his fondness for her as the reason.   To pass the time, Mary is always ready with a song for the children or a bawdy tune for the grownups.  Or she may tell a story about the Colonel or interest you in some forgotten colonial custom.  She is the "Mary" in Mary Veale and the Colonials!     

 The most important spy of the American Revolution, James Armistead, at the request of the Marquis de Lafayette, posed as a runaway slave to General Cornwallis.  In this way, he was able to gather vital information on important troop movement, aiding George Washington in winning the war.  For his service, he was granted his freedom and a lifelong pension. Afterward, he took the name of his friend, the Marquis and was thereafter known as James Lafayette.  During his 1824 visit to America, the Marquis caught sight of James Lafayette in a Richmond crowd and stopped his carriage to embrace him. 

 Andrew Sproule immigrated from Scotland at the ripe old age of 32.  A well-respected and wealthy merchant, Sproule had a reputation for being disheveled in appearance.  He served as British Naval Agent, and his Gosport  Marine Yard  became Norfolk Naval Shipyard.    According to his wife, Catherine, Sproule  "ill-used" by fellow Scot, Lord Dunmore, who lodged his soldiers in the Sproule home and took refuge at his marine yard.  Forced to flee  onbaord the Roebuck., his home and properties burned, Sproule died five days later of a broken heart.      

 Born to free black parents and the owner of a livery stable at the corner of London and Middle, Billy Flora was both respected and well-liked by the Portsmouth citizenry.  A hero of the Battle of Great Bridge, he fought under Colonel William Woodford.  A fellow sentry at the bridge reported Flora was the last to cross as the British advanced. As he retreated from his post, under heavy fire from the British line, he scampered over the breastwork, , but not before doubling back to remove a plank from the causeway and impede their progress. Flora went on to fight in many battles, including Yorktown.

  Wife of Andrew Sproule, founder of the Gosport Marine Yard, Catherine found herself at the very center of the American Revolution and sadly, on the wrong side.  Her husband was Naval Agent and a Scotsman, like Lord Dunmore.  According to Catherine, Dunmore took full advantage of her husband's precarious position as agent to the Crown, and quartered his troops in their home and pressed her eldest son intor service in the Queen's Own, a regiment formed to fight at Great Bridge.  Forced to flee Portsmouth with seven other children, her home was burned and her belongings confiscated by the Patriots. 

 Visionary and founder of Portsmouth, Colonel William Crawford, commissioned prominent surveyor Gresham Nimmo to lay out his new city using many of the same elements and street names as the cities in England.  Gresham can answer questions like, "Why are some streets so narrow and others so wide?"   He can tell you why the Colonel chose to use so much land, a very precious commodity, on High Street.  And why he bothered naming the squares.  He even knows a bit about the Colonel himself.