"The first marine hospital owned by the Federal Government was purchased from the State of Virginia in 1801 and was located at Washington Point in Norfolk County. The hospital had been erected by the state of Virginia for use by merchant seamen. Following the Civil War, this facility was no longer used as a hospital. The building was demolished in 1933. Other early marine hospitals were established in the port cities of Boston, Massachusetts; Newport[,] Rhode Island; and Charleston, South Carolina" (NIH, n.d.).