Virginia Peninsula

This 1996 satellite photo shows Hampton Roads, with the Virginia Peninsula filling most of the top half of the image

The Virginia Peninsula is a peninsula in southeast Virginia, bounded by the York River, James River, Hampton Roads and Chesapeake Bay.

Hampton Roads is the common name for the metropolitan area that surrounds the body of water of the same name. The land portion of Hampton Roads has been historically divided into two regions, the Virginia Peninsula or Peninsula on the north side, and South Hampton Roads on the south side. (Locally, South Hampton Roads is commonly called the Southside, which is not to be confused with Southside Virginia, which is a separate region of the south central portion of Virginia located farther inland.) More recently, the metropolitan area has expanded to include the two southernmost counties of the Middle Peninsula, across the York River from the Virginia Peninsula.

The Virginia Peninsula is part of the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area) with a population about 1.6 million. The Hampton Roads MSA is the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the southeastern United States and the largest between Washington, D.C., and Atlanta, Georgia.

History

The Battle of Hampton Roads, as depicted by Currier and Ives

The Virginia Peninsula is rich in colonial American history. The first permanent English settlement in North America was established in 1607 at Jamestown. The first continuously occupied settlement was at Kecoughtan in Elizabeth City County what is now the City of Hampton. Nearby, Fort Monroe, the country's oldest military base still in use is located at Old Point Comfort. After declaring independence from Great Britain, Virginia's first state capital was Williamsburg; much of the historic district of that city has been restored as Colonial Williamsburg. Also, the decisive battle of the American Revolution, the siege of Yorktown in 1781, took place on the Virginia Peninsula.

During the American Civil War (1861–1865), the Union Army invaded the Virginia Peninsula as part of the Peninsula Campaign in 1862 to capture Richmond. The Battle of Hampton Roads between the first ironclad warships took place near the mouth of the James River off the eastern tip of Warwick County. The 1862 Siege of Yorktown took place along the York River. The world's largest shipyard is located in Newport News, adjacent to the coal piers first established by Collis P. Huntington and the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway in 1881.

In the 20th century, during the two world wars, massive military facilities were established on large reservations which today contain Fort Eustis, Naval Weapons Station Yorktown, and Camp Peary. Entire communities including the lost towns of Lackey, Penniman, and Magruder disappeared in the process, with many Virginians from these and Mulberry Island relocated elsewhere.

Local government

In Colonial times, and even in the first 150 years of the United States, much like Virginia as a whole, the Virginia Peninsula was in an almost constant state of change in terms of local government, largely due to growth, as counties were divided and towns were formed as the population grew. Some towns grew to become cities. Under the state constitutional changes in 1871, extant and future cities in Virginia became independent cities of the counties they had formerly been located within.

However, in the second half of the 20th century, an unprecedented wave of city-county-town local government consolidations took place in South Hampton Roads and on the Virginia Peninsula. Nowhere else in Virginia have rural areas and more dense cities been combined in such a manner as these two areas. The changes resulted in the two areas having Virginia's cities with the largest land areas and the most farming, even over 30 years after the consolidations in some instances.

Current cities, counties and towns

The Virginia Peninsula subregion includes four independent cities and two counties. There are currently no incorporated towns. There were also a number of political subdivisions which are now extinct, primarily due to both growth of communities and consolidation of local government (see section below).

Independent cities

Counties

Extinct political subdivisions

Many incorporated (formally constituted) localities have become legally extinct, though most have not been abandoned by their citizens, with the notable exception of Jamestown. Exclusive of towns which became cities and still have the same name, no less than 4 shires, 2 counties, 4 towns, and 1 city no longer exist in the Virginia Peninsula area, at least not under their earlier names. For searches of genealogical, land title, and other historical records, it is very helpful to know these old names.

The following is a listing of these 11 extinct shire, counties, towns, and cities, with the approximate dates they existed:

Jamestown, Virginia (1607) largely abandoned as a Town after 1699
Kecoughtan, Virginia (1610), became part of Town and City of Hampton
Middle Plantation (1632), became Williamsburg after 1699
Elizabeth River Shire (1634-1643)
Warwick River Shire (1634-1643)
Charles River Shire (1634-1643)
James City Shire (1634-1643)
Elizabeth City County (1643-1952)
Warwick County (aka Warwick River County) (1643-1952)
Town of Phoebus(1900-1952) (earlier known as unincorporated towns of Millwood, Roseland Farms,Chesapeake City)
City of Warwick (1952-1958)

Major bridges, bridge tunnels, ferry system

James River Bridge, viewed from Huntington Park Beach

Generally surrounded by water, the Virginia Peninsula is linked to other areas across the surrounding water barriers of the James and York Rivers, and the harbor of Hampton Roads by 2 bridge-tunnels, 2 large drawbridges, and a state-operated ferry system. These are:

Interstate Highways

U.S. and State Routes

Scenic, low speed parkways

Colonial Parkway

U.S. military installations

Two F-22A turn in on final approach to Langley Air Force Base

The Virginia Peninsula is home to several military bases.

City of Hampton

Fort Monroe and Langley Air Force Base are located in Hampton. The now-decommissioned Fort Wool, located on a man made island called Rip Raps across the mouth of Hampton Roads from Fort Monroe, is also in Hampton.

City of Newport News

Fort Eustis, home of the U.S. Army Transportation Corps is in Newport News. A major military contractor, Northrop Grumman Newport News, is also in Newport News.

York County

York County is home to the U.S. Navy's Yorktown Naval Weapons Station and a supply depot at nearby Cheatham Annex. Camp Peary is also located in York County.

James City County

Although each is primarily located in other jurisdictions, portions of Fort Eustis, Naval Weapons Station Yorktown, Cheatham Annex, and Camp Peary extend into James City County.

Europe

Europe itself is a peninsula.

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Commonwealth of Virginia

Flag of Virginia Seal
Nickname(s): Old Dominion, Mother of Presidents
Motto(s): Sic semper tyrannis

Official language(s) English

Capital Richmond
Largest city
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The York River is a navigable estuary, approximately 40 mi (64 km) long, in eastern Virginia in the United States. It ranges in width from 1 mi. (1.6 km) at its head to 2.5 mi (4 km) near its mouth on the west side of Chesapeake Bay.
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The James River in the U.S. state of Virginia is 660 km (410 miles) long including its Jackson River source and drains a watershed comprising 27,019 km² (10,432 square miles). The watershed includes about 4% open water and an area with a population of 2.
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Hampton Roads is the name of both a body of water and the region of land areas which surround it in southeastern Virginia in the USA. Hampton Roads is notable for its year-round ice-free harbor, for U.S.
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Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's watershed covers 64,299 square miles (166534 km)
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South Hampton Roads is a region located in the extreme southeastern portion of Virginia in the United States.

Hampton Roads is the common name for the metropolitan area that surrounds the body of water Hampton Roads Harbor.
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The Middle Peninsula is, as its name implies, the middle of three peninsulas on the western shore of Chesapeake Bay in Virginia. This peninsula is bounded by the Rappahannock River on the north and the York River on the south.
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Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC MSA is a U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) as defined by the United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as of June, 2003.
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urbanized area—a contiguous area of relatively high population density. The counties containing the core urbanized area are known as the central counties of the MSA.
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8th century - 9th century - 10th century
850s 860s 870s - 880s - 890s 900s 910s
885 886 887 - 888 - 889 890 891

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Subjects: Archaeology - Architecture -
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This article may be too long.
Please discuss this issue on the talk page and help summarize or split the content into subarticles of an article series. Located on Jamestown Island in the Virginia Colony, was founded on May 14, 1607.
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Kecoughtan in Virginia was originally named Kikotan (also spelled Kiccowtan, Kikowtan as well as Kecoughtan), presumably a word for the Native Americans living there when the English colonists arrived in the Hampton Roads area in 1607.
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Elizabeth City County was a county in eastern Virginia which is now extinct. Originally created in 1634 as Elizabeth River Shire, it was one of eight shires created in the Virginia Colony by order of the King of England.
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Hampton, Virginia
Downtown skyline on a cloudy day

Seal
Motto: America's First
Location in the State of Virginia
Coordinates:
Country United States
State
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Location: Hampton, Virginia

Built/Founded: 1819

Added to NRHP: October 15, 1966

NRHP Reference#: 66000912 ^[1]

Governing body: United States Army Fort Monroe, Virginia (also known as Fortress Monroe
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Old Point Comfort is a point of land located in the independent city of Hampton at the extreme tip of the Virginia Peninsula at the mouth of Hampton Roads in the United States.
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Williamsburg, Virginia

Seal
Location in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Coordinates:
Country United States
State Virginia
Counties Independent city

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Location: Williamsburg, Virginia

Built/Founded: 1927

Added to NRHP: October 15, 1966

NRHP Reference#: 66000925 ^[1] Colonial Williamsburg is the historic district of the independent city of Williamsburg, Virginia.
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Siege (Battle) of Yorktown in 1781 was a decisive victory by a combined assault of French forces led by General Comte de Rochambeau and American forces led by General George Washington, over a British Army commanded by General Lord Cornwallis.
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American Civil War (1861–1865) was a major war between the United States (the "Union") and eleven Southern slave states which declared that they had a right to secession and formed the Confederate States of America, led by President Jefferson Davis.
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The Union Army was the army that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the Northern Army, or the National Army.^[1]
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Peninsula Campaign (also known as the Peninsular Campaign) of the American Civil War was a major Union operation launched in southeastern Virginia from March through July 1862, the first large-scale offensive in the Eastern Theater. The operation, commanded by Maj. Gen.
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Richmond, Virginia

Flag
Seal
Nickname: River City, Cap City
Motto: Sic Itur Ad Astra (Thus do we reach the stars)
Location in the Commonwealth of Virginia
Coordinates:
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Battle of Hampton Roads, often called the Battle of Monitor and Merrimack, was a naval battle of the American Civil War, famous for being the first fight between two ironclads, the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia
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