NORFOLK, Va. — It’s been nearly a quarter century since mermaids started popping up on the streets of Norfolk. Since then, hundreds of the iconic sculptures have appeared on street corners and in front of schools, hospitals and businesses.
While mermaids are known for swimming, I decided to do some walking to check out the mermaids in the Mermaid City.
You see them everywhere when you’re driving around Norfolk. The city even has a map to help you find all the mermaids!
I found that tracking down all the mermaid sculptures is a pretty good workout, because they are not always easy to spot. One was tucked away behind some bushes, and I spotted another way up on a rooftop. But most of them are in plain site, pretty easy to spot.
Fittingly, one mermaid has a place of honor in front of the cruise ship terminal named for the late Pete Decker. Uncle Pete, as many of us called him, credited his wife with coming up with the mermaid idea. Now, a mermaid is often the first thing visitors see when they step off their ship.
The sculptures have really become iconic - each one is painted a different color and some of them are even bedazzled.
Tracking them down actually ended up being quite a workout, and I was pretty tired by the time I called it quits!
Norfolk has sister cities all over the world, like Japan, Germany and the Philippines, so now you can find Norfolk mermaids all over the world! Who knows, maybe the bosses will pay for my first international walk... a business trip, of course.
