National Historic Landmark · dry dock · Portsmouth (Independent City), Virginia

Drydock No. 1

United States historic place in Portsmouth (Independent City), Virginia. Built 1827. Added to the National Register in 1970, and a National Historic Landmark.

National Historic Landmark Built 1827 Listed 1970

Photos via Wikimedia Commons

What it is

Drydock Number One is the oldest operational drydock facility in the United States. Located in Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia, it was put into service in 1834, and has been in service since then. Its history includes the refitting of USS Merrimack, which was modified to be the Confederate Navy ironclad CSS Virginia. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1971.

Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The record

Property type	Structure
Address	Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth (Independent City), VA
Independent city	City of Portsmouth
Listed	Feb 26, 1970
Listed for	Military, Maritime history
Level of significance	National
Reference number	70000862
Built	1827 · more from the 1820s
Type of place	dry dock
Designations	National Historic Landmark, Virginia Historic Landmark, Historic Civil Engineering Landmark
Contributing resources	1 structure
Standing	Yes

The nomination form, the document that argues why this place matters, is in the National Archives: Read the nomination ↗

Visiting

Address	Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth (Independent City), VA
Coordinates	36.8206° N, 76.2930° W · Directions ↗
Also in Portsmouth (Independent City)	22 listed places in Portsmouth (Independent City) →
Nearest national park unit	Fort Monroe National Monument · 14 miles · on Park Atlas

Listing on the Register does not open the door. Unless a museum or park runs it, treat this as private property and see it from the sidewalk.

At a glance

State: Virginia
Independent city: City of Portsmouth
Listed: 1970
Type: Structure
Landmark: Yes
Built: 1827

Cell signal

Verizon: 5G (fast)
AT&T: 5G (fast)
T-Mobile: 5G (fast)

Outdoor coverage as modeled by carriers in FCC filings as of 2025-12-31. This product uses FCC APIs and/or Data but is not endorsed or certified by the FCC.

Official links

Sister site

Park Atlas

Every unit of the National Park System, with its fees, hours, alerts and campgrounds.

Open Park Atlas →

This record is built from National Park Service sources, re-read every Saturday, and Wikidata, re-read on the first Saturday of each month. Register Atlas is independent and is not affiliated with any agency, and a listing does not mean a place is open to visitors. How the data is built →

Explore

Map

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All listings in City of Portsmouth →

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Guidebooks to historic places in Virginia

We earn a small commission if you buy through these links. It does not change what we list.

Historical Tours Alexandria, Virginia
Frederick Knops, 2017
Find at Bookshop.org
Plantations of Virginia
Charlene C. Giannetti and Jai Williams, 2017
Find at Bookshop.org
George Washington's Virginia
John R. Maass, 2017
Find at Bookshop.org
Historic Sites in Virginia's Northern Neck and Essex County
Thomas A. Wolf, 2011
Find at Bookshop.org

Titles come from Open Library's catalog, matched by subject heading or by title.

Reference

Questions people ask

When was Drydock No. 1 listed on the National Register?

Feb 26, 1970. It is also a National Historic Landmark, the higher of the two designations.

Source: National Park Service

When was Drydock No. 1 built?

1827.

Source: Wikidata

Where is Drydock No. 1?

Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth (Independent City), City of Portsmouth, Virginia. The nearest national park unit is Fort Monroe National Monument, 14 miles away.

Source: Fort Monroe National Monument

Where is the nomination form for Drydock No. 1?

The National Archives holds the nomination form, the document that made the case for listing.

Source: National Archives

Is there cell service at Drydock No. 1?

FCC coverage maps show Verizon 5G, AT&T 5G, and T-Mobile 5G at the listed point. Coverage indoors and behind old masonry is another matter.

Source: FCC Broadband Map

Sources

Location, type and contributing counts come from the National Park Service's National Register spatial data. Listing dates come from the National Register office's spreadsheet where it carries the listing. Construction date, architect, style, photograph and encyclopedia link come from Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons, matched on reference number 70000862. Nothing here is transcribed by hand. The nomination form and photographs ↗ at NPGallery are the original nomination as filed with the National Park Service, and the form is often the best description of the place. The description under "What it is" is the opening of the Wikipedia article, CC BY-SA.