After the war, Norvell worked at various newspapers in several cities, including: the "Baltimore Patriot" 1815-17. Norvell stayed with the Patriot almost two years before abruptly moving back to Kentucky, possibly with the encouragement of Henry Clay, where he took over the state's oldest newspaper, the Lexington Kentucky Gazette in 1817. For nearly the next two years, he maintained Clay's support at home, which earned Norvell apparently no great pecuniary rewards. By early in that year, he was again applying for clerkships in Washington, and soon moved east to Philadelphia, where he became editor of an Anti-Federalist newspaper. By 1819, he joined the Franklin Gazette, which he published with Richard Bache Jr. the brother of Benjamin Franklin Bache, and grandson of Benjamin Franklin. The Franklin Gazette, which supported Jefferson politically, was published in offices "at 180 the first door on the left hand side of Carpenter's lane, leading from the Post Office to the Bank of the United States."