OLD POINT COMFORT, a summer and winter resort, in Elizabeth City county, Virginia, U.S.A., at the southern end of a narrow, sandy peninsula projecting into Hampton Roads (at the mouth of the James river), about 12 m. N. by W. of Norfolk. It is served directly by the Chesapeake and Ohio railway, and indirectly by the New York, Philadelphia and Norfolk (Penn sylvania system) , passengers and freight being carried by steamer from the terminus at Cape Charles; by steamboat lines connect ing with the principal cities along the Atlantic coast, and with cities along the James river; by ferry, connecting with Norfolk and Portsmouth; and by electric railway (3 m.) to Hampton and (12 m.) to Newport News. There is a U.S. garrison at Ft. Monroe, one of the most important fortifications on the Atlantic coast of the United States. The fort lies within a tract of 252 ac. and was first regularly garrisoned in 1823 ; in 1824 the Artillery School of Practice (now called the U.S. Coast Artillery school)
was established to provide commissioned officers of the Coast Artillery with instruction in professional work and to give tech nical instruction to the non-commissioned staff. During the Civil War the fort was the rendezvous for several military expeditions, notably those of Gen. B. F. Butler to Hatteras inlet, in 1861; of Gen. A. E. Burnside, to North Carolina, in 1862; and of Gen. A. H. Terry, against Ft. Fisher, in 1865. Jefferson Davis was a prisoner here for two years. The expedition which settled James town rounded this peninsula (April 26, 1607), opened its sealed instructions here and named the peninsula "Poynt Comfort," in recognition of the sheltered harbour. The "Old" was added sub sequently to distinguish it from a Point Comfort settlement at the mouth of the York river on Chesapeake bay.