Places to see
Virginia Beach Norwegian Lady
2 May 2007 12:26 PM
One of the most unique and sentimental features of the Virginia Beach oceanfront is the Virginia Beach Norwegian Lady Statue.  The Virginia Beach Norwegian Lady Statue has a twin statue in the town of Moss, located in Norway.  These two statues memorialize the wreck of a ship called the Dictator, and the heroic efforts by members of the community in Virginia Beach to save the lives of the Dictator's crew.  Eight of the seventeen passengers, including the ship's captain, were saved by their efforts.  Unfortunately, the ship's lifeboats were destroyed when the ship ran aground on a sandbar, and rescue of the other passengers and crew was impossible, despite the best efforts of the Virginia Beach rescue team.

The Virginia Beach Norwegian Lady Statue is a replica of the original wooden figurehead located on the Dictator.  The original wooden figurehead washed up on Virginia Beach shortly after the wreck of the Dictator and was displayed on the boardwalk.  But the elements eventually eroded and damaged the wooden icon.  City officials moved the icon to a new location in 1953, but much to their chagrin, the wooden statue disappeared shortly thereafter.  After much discussion and fundraising efforts to acquire a new memorial, a shipping company in Norway offered the money to replace the city's icon.  Enough money was donated to commission two identical bronze statures.  One of these was placed at Virginia Beach, and the other was placed in Norway as a symbol of the bonds of friendship between the two communities.
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