Early History of Suffolk

A community developed here in the 1720s around John Constant's wharf, dwelling, and tobacco warehouse. The Virginia House of Burgesses chartered the town of Suffolk in 1742. It was incorporated as a town in 1808 and as a city in 1910; in 1974 it merged with Nansemond County. American troops occupied Suffolk during the Revolutionary War and a British force burned it on 13 May 1779. The Marquis de Lafayette visited the town in February 1825 during his American tour. Union forces held Suffolk for most of the Civil War. The town suffered disastrous fires in 1837, 1885, and 1888 but was quickly rebuilt each time.