Norfolk Highlights 1584 - 1881
By George Holbert Tucker
Chapter 58
The Russian Invasion
Norfolk society went into its dizziest tailspin in January of 1877,
when the Russian Imperial Grand Dukes Alexis and Constantine and their
suites paid the city a surprise visit.
Nothing like it had happened since Lady Dunmore showed the Norfolk
provincials the latest minuet steps in 1774. By comparison, the much
touted International Azalea Festivals of later years are like so many
country church covered-dish suppers.
The noble globetrotters arrived in Norfolk aboard the Imperial Russian
frigate Swetlana on January 13, 1877, and from then until the dukes
departed for New York, Norfolk society had palpitations of the heart
on a twenty-four-hour basis.
The bon ton of that period was so unused to imperial visitations that
it even overlooked a slur aimed in its direction by the Grand Duke Alexis
immediately after his arrival.
It was only twelve years after Appomattox, and the haute monde was
still trying to recoup the family fortunes that had been considerably
reduced during "The Late Unpleasantness."
When the Grand Duke Alexis learned that two of the top leaders of Norfolk
society were in the grocery and auction business, he is reported to
have raised his imperial eyebrows and remarked, "Really! Am I to
be presented to Norfolk society by a grocer and forced to dance with
the wife of the town crier?"
But this jibe was forgotten temporarily in the whirlwind of pleasure
kicked up by the imperial visit.
Theater parties at the Church Street Opera House, a Grand Complimentary
German in the Old Masonic Temple on Freemason Street, a Grand Naval
Ball held in the flag-bedecked, flower-banked sail loft of the Norfolk
Naval Shipyard, all climaxed by a Grand Matinee Dansante aboard the
Swetlana, kept the Norfolk-area social scene in a tizzy for over a month.
In reporting the German, a Baltimore paper added this titillating note:
"A young lady of Norfolk was so agitated while dancing with the
Grand Duke that she fainted in his arms. The scion of nobility merely
passed her over to one of the old ladies with the remark, "Too-damn-thin-o-vich!"
and secured another partner.
Despite the frosting on the social cake, however, all was not well
aboard the Swetlana, and most of the time while the Grand Dukes and
the top Russian naval officers were cavorting ashore, the petty officers
of the ship were having a time keeping the sailors from open mutiny.
The Norfolk police also had their hands full keeping the Russian sailors
in line when they were on shore leave. Saloon keepers continued serving
the drunken sailors on their way back to the ship, and in some instances
these establishments even kept their rear doors open for the Russians
when the saloons were supposed to be closed, all of which brought a
severe rebuke from the civil authorities.
Many stories have come down from the time of the imperial visit, but
the following is indicative of what the high-born Russian visitors were
doing when they were not tripping the light fantastic.
On one occasion, when the Grand Duke Alexis was scheduled to attend
a fashionable affair in Portsmouth, he was not to be found. Finally
a search party composed of a number of leading citizens tracked him
down behind a high board fence on the farm of John Edwards, an eccentric
bachelor. They discovered His Imperial Highness perched on top of a
barrel watching a cockfight! 
 Chapter
59
African-Americans in Norfolk
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