 Lower Norfolk County was large when first organized , defined as from the Atlantic Ocean west past the Elizabeth River , encompassing the entire area now within the modern cities of Portsmouth , Norfolk , Chesapeake , and Virginia Beach . It attracted many entrepreneurs , including William Moseley with his family in 1648 . Belonging to the Merchant Adventurers Guild of London , he immigrated from Rotterdam of the Netherlands , where he had been in the international trade . He settled on land on the north side of the Elizabeth River ( Virginia ) , east of what developed as Norfolk . 
