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Mariner's Park Fairgrounds and Race Track
(For more Norfolk geography tidbits, click here.)
By at least the turn of the 20th Century, the fairgrounds had been moved again. This time, to Mariner’s Park, named for its owner, John Mariner. In addition to the annual fair itself, numerous horse shows and horse-racing events took place at the grounds of the Virginia State Fair and Agricultural Association. Its location was just north of what would become Lafayette Boulevard, east of Cottage  Toll Road, and west of what would become Fairmount Park (a neighborhood obviously named for the fairgrounds). The area was also variously known as Mariner’s Race Track as well as the Norfolk Driving Park, or the Park of the Norfolk Driving Club. An oval-shaped track is shown at this location on both the 1907 and 1918 basemaps (P-19); note the track appears to have been oval-shaped, although the main building is known to have been oval-shaped, as well. A 1909 plat of the land (Figure ZZZ [tcf334marinerruffin.jpg]) identifies it, or a nearby area, as “Old Fair Grounds.” Its buildings were unusually large, and especially when first built, they were a surprising spectacle to behold amongst what was was essentially farmland.
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