Nostalgia & History > Midweek Menu - Norfolk & Washington Steamboat Company

This week I am veering off of dining cars a little bit to add the somewhat related category of Steamboat/Steamship Companies. There were a number of such companies that were owner or affiliated with railroads. The Norfolk & Washington Steamboat Company was founded in 1891 and was controlled before WWI by the Pennsylvania Railroad. As the name implies, the Norfolk & Washington offered service between its namesake cities via a 13 hour trip, offered both daylight and as overnight trips with the appropriate dining and sleeping facilities. At times service was also provided to Fortress Monroe, Newport News, and Portsmouth.

In the end, the service was provided by a single ship, the "District of Columbia". In 1948 the ship collided with a tanker, killing someone on the tanker. The company shut down with the "District of Columbia" being sold (it ended up in Cape Cod service into the early 1960's).

Here is a menu from 1907. I am not sure why it was mostly offered in French!

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4) Photo of the dining room on the "Newport News"
5) Photo of the "District of Columbia" about to dock at Maine Avenue on the Potomac River in D.C. in 1947, a year before the service was shut down.

I hope you enjoyed a look at a one time railroad affiliated steamship service.

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njmidland Wrote:
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> This week I am veering off of dining cars a little
> bit to add the somewhat related category of
> Steamboat/Steamship Companies. There were a
> number of such companies that were owner or
> affiliated with railroads. The Norfolk &
> Washington Steamboat Company was founded in 1891
> and was controlled before WWI by the Pennsylvania
> Railroad. As the name implies, the Norfolk &
> Washington offered service between its namesake
> cities via a 13 hour trip, offered both daylight
> and as overnight trips with the appropriate dining
> and sleeping facilities. At times service was
> also provided to Fortress Monroe, Newport News,
> and Portsmouth.
>
> In the end, the service was provided by a single
> ship, the "District of Columbia". In 1948 the
> ship collided with a tanker, killing someone on
> the tanker. The company shut down with the
> "District of Columbia" being sold (it ended up in
> Cape Cod service into the early 1960's).
>
> Here is a menu from 1907. I am not sure why it
> was mostly offered in French!


Probably to make you think you were getting more for your money. (Why if these oysters were any more cultured, they wouldn't speak to either of us!)