Hampton Roads is the name of both a body of water and the land areas which surround it in southeastern Virginia in the United States.
The water area known as Hampton Roads (informally "the harbor") is one of the world's greatest natural harbors, and incorporates the mouths of the Elizabeth River and James River with several smaller rivers and itself empties into the Chesapeake Bay near its mouth leading to the Atlantic Ocean.
The land area includes most of the counties, cities and towns in the southeastern corner of Virginia and parts of Northeastern North Carolina. For statistical purposes, officially known as the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC MSA, the Hampton Roads area has a population of about 1.6 million and is the fourth largest metropolitan area in the southeastern United States, as well as the largest between Washington, D.C. and Atlanta. Hampton Roads is notable for U.S. naval and air force facilities, shipbuilding and repair yards, coal piers, miles of waterfront property and beaches, all of which contribute to the diversity and stability of the area's economy.
The duel of the famous ironclads in the Battle of Hampton Roads during the American Civil War took place here. The Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel was the first bridge-tunnel complex in the world when completed in 1957. Completed, in 1963, the 17 mile-long Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, was named one of the Seven Engineering Wonders of the Modern World and has its southern terminus in the Hampton Roads area. Jamestown and Colonial Williamsburg, among hundreds of historical sites and attractions in the area, draw visitors from around the world.
The entrance from Chesapeake Bay was defended by Fort Monroe, built in 1819 on Old Point Comfort, and by Fort Wool, built as Fort Calhoun in 1829, on a small island called the Rip Raps near the middle of the channel. The famous Battle of Hampton Roads between USS Monitor and CSS Virginia (ex-USS Merrimack) during the US Civil War took place here, off Sewell's Point, on March 8-9, 1862. The Jamestown Exposition was held at Sewell's Point on Hampton Roads in 1907. A major naval display was featured, and this laid the groundwork for the future Norfolk Navy Base which was later established there.
Note: This section provides history of the water area known as Hampton Roads. For the histories of the various communities which make up the Hampton Roads region, please refer to the articles on the History of Virginia, Virginia Peninsula and South Hampton Roads subregions, and individual articles for each shire, county, town, or city in the following sections.
Both the Peninsula and the Southside are collectively referred to as "Tidewater". However, the term also refers, geographically, to the entire coastal plain of Virginia including areas north of Hampton Roads.
For statisical purposes, officially known as the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC MSA, the Hampton Roads area has a population of about 1.6 million and is the fourth largest metropolitan area in the southeastern United States between Washington, D.C. and Atlanta.
Many incorporated (formally constituted) localities became legally defunct, though mostly not abandoned by their citizens, with the notable exception of Jamestown. For search of genealogical, land, and other historical records, it may be necessary to find these old names.
The following is a partial listing of defunct political subdivisions in the Hampton Roads area with approximate formation and dissolution dates. Note: Former towns which grew to became cities of the same name are not listed separately. More information about dates and dispositions may be found in most individual articles by following the links.
In order of date founded:
See also article Lost counties, cities and towns of Virginia
The region has extensive natural areas, including 26 miles of Atlantic Ocean beaches, the Chesapeake Bay, the Great Dismal Swamp, picturesque rivers, state parks, wildlife refuges, and botanical gardens.
The land portion of Hampton Roads is divided into two regions, the Peninsula, on the north side, and South Hampton Roads, on the south side, where most of the area's population lives.
In addition, the Middle Peninsula counties of Gloucester and Mathews, while not part of the geographical Hampton Roads area, are included in the vast metropolitan region's population.
The Hampton Roads Beltway extends 56 miles on a long loop through the region, crossing the harbor on two toll-free bridge-tunnel facilities. These crossings are the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel between Phoebus in Hampton and Willoughby Spit in Norfolk and the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel between Newport News and Suffolk. The Beltway connects with another Interstate highway and three arterial U.S. Highways at Bower's Hill near the northeastern edge of the Great Dismal Swamp.
Other major east-west routes are U.S. Highway 58, U.S. Highway 60, and U.S. Highway 460. The major north-south routes are U.S. Highway 13 and U.S. Highway 17.
A third crossing of Hampton Roads is the James River Bridge, carrying US 17 from Newport News to Isle of Wight County.
There are also two other tunnels in the area, the Midtown Tunnel, and the Downtown Tunnel joining Portsmouth and Norfolk, as well as the 17-mile-long Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, a toll facility which links the region with Virginia's Eastern Shore which carries US 13.
The George P. Coleman Memorial Bridge is a major toll bridge connecting U.S. Highway 17 on the Peninsula at Yorktown with Virginia's Middle Peninsula region.
The Jamestown Ferry (also known as the Jamestown-Scotland Ferry) is an automobile ferry system on the James River connecting Jamestown in James City County with Scotland in Surry County. It carries Virginia State Highway 31. Operated by VDOT, it is the only 24-hour state-run ferry operation in Virginia and has over 90 employees. It operates four ferryboats, the Pocahontas, the Williamsburg, the Surry, and the Virginia. The facility is toll-free.
Hampton Roads Transit is southeastern Virginia's most reliable mobility source, serving over 17 million annual passengers in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. HRT currently serves 1.2 million people within its 369 square mile service area.
The resort city of Virginia Beach had been considering a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system similar that in use in Las Vegas, but the lack of any subsidiary transit systems (i.e. light rail or a substantial network of local bus routes) with which to connect contributed to the project's abandonment while in the planning stage. City officials stated that other projects may be considered in the future.
There is a small very experimental Magnetic levitation project under development on campus at Old Dominion University in Norfolk.
The Department of Rail and Public Transportation of the State of Virginia has studies underway for extending high speed passenger rail to the Virginia Peninsula and South Hampton Roads areas with a rail connection at Richmond to both the Northeast Corridor and the Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor.
Norfolk International Airport is the main air passenger and cargo transport hub in the region. Offering nearly 200 arrivals and departures daily to major cities throughout the United States, Norfolk International presently ranks in the country's top 65 airports in terms of passengers served annually, with an average of 3.5 million. The airport is served by 11 airlines, with flights to 25 nonstop destinations:
Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport is a major regional air passenger transport hub in southeastern Virginia. The airport serves an average of 840,000 annual passengers, and is served by three (3) airlines, with flights to six (6) nonstop destinations:
It is little surprise therefore that the Hampton Roads region's economic base is largely port-related, including shipbuilding, ship repair, naval installations, cargo transfer and storage, and manufacturing related to the processing of imports and exports. Associated with the ports' military role are almost 50,000 federal civilian employees.
The harbor of Hampton Roads is an important highway of commerce, especially for the cities of Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Newport News.
Northrop Grumman Newport News (formerly Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company), the world's largest shipyard, is located a short distance up the James River. In Portsmouth, a few miles up the Elizabeth River, the historic Norfolk Naval Shipyard is located. NORSHIPCO operates from sites in the City of Norfolk. There are also several smaller shipyards, numerous docks and terminals.
Massive coal piers and loading facilities were established in the late 19th and early 20th century by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O), Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W), and Virginian Railway (VGN). The latter two were predecessors of the Norfolk Southern Railway, a Class I railroad which has its headquarters in Norfolk, and continues to export coal from a large facility at Lambert's Point on the Elizabeth River. CSX Transportation now serves the former C&O facility at Newport News. The VGN's former coal facility at Sewell's Point is now part of the expansive Norfolk Navy Base.
Hampton Roads is also a chief rendezvous of the United States Navy. The Hampton Roads area has the largest concentration of military bases and facilities of any metropolitan area in the world. The area is home to the Allied Command Transformation, which is the only major military command of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). Langley Air Force Base is home to Air Combat Command (ACC). The Norfolk Navy Base is located at Sewell's Point near the mouth, on the site used for the tercentennial Jamestown Exposition in 1907. For a width of 500 feet the Federal government during 1902 through 1905 increased its minimum depth at low water from 25.5 feet to 30 feet, and the channel has now been dredged to a depth of 55 feet in some places.
Other area military facilities include:
NASA's Langley Research Center, located on the Peninsula adjacent to Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, is home to scientific and aerospace technology research. The Jefferson Labs facility is located nearby in Newport News.
For an even better experience, approach the area from the south by water from Surry County with a ride aboard one of the Jamestown Ferrys, which include the Pocahontas and Williamsburg. As passengers cross, they can walk about the boat or go up to an enclosed viewing level with restrooms. Weather and daylight permitting, passengers usually see the Jamestown Island much as the first colonists may have approached it. In fact, the replicas of Christopher Newport's the three tiny ships, Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery are docked near the northern ferry landing. Both the Jamestown Ferry and Colonial Parkway are toll-free.
The area's experiences with commercial and retail centers began early in 1918. Afton Square, located in the Cradock naval community of Portsmouth, was the first planned shopping center in the United States and has served as template for future developments throughout the nation. *
Hampton Roads experienced tremendous growth during and after World War II. In the 1950s, a trend in retail was the shopping center, a group of stores along a common sidewalk adjacent to off-street parking, usually in a suburban location.
In 1959, one of the largest on the east coast of the United States was opened at the northeast corner of Military Highway and Virginia Beach Boulevard on property which had formally been used as an airfield. The new JANAF Shopping Center, located in Norfolk, featured acres of free parking and dozens of stores. Backed by retired military personnel, the name JANAF was an acronym for Joint Army Navy Air Force.
During the 1950s and early-1960s, other shopping centers in Hampton Roads were developed, such as Ward's Corner Shopping Center, Downtown Plaza Shopping Center and Southern Shopping Center in Norfolk; Mid-City Shopping Center in Portsmouth; Hilltop Shopping Center (now known as The Shops at Hilltop) in Virginia Beach; Riverdale Shopping Center in Hampton and the Warwick-Denbigh Shopping Center in Newport News.
In the late-1960s, a new type of shopping center came to Hampton Roads: the Indoor Shopping Mall. In 1965, South Hampton Roads broke ground on its first shopping mall in Virginia Beach, known as Pembroke Mall. The mall opened in 1966, and became Hampton Road's newest indoor shopping destination. The Virginia Peninsula had its first indoor shopping mall in 1973, with Coliseum Mall. Coliseum Mall drew so much traffic from Interstate 64, that a towering flyover was built at the Mercury Boulevard and Coliseum Drive intersection, to accommodate eastbound mall traffic, from the Mercury Boulevard interchange. Also in the 1970s, Tower Mall was built in Portsmouth. In Norfolk, Military Circle Mall on Military Highway was built across Virginia Beach Boulevard from the large JANAF Shopping Center with its own high-rise hotel right in the center. In 1981, Greenbrier Mall gave Chesapeake a shopping mall of its own as well, and Virginia Beach got the massive Lynnhaven Mall the same year.
In 1999, urban shopping returned back to downtown Norfolk in the form of a shopping mall like no other in Hampton Roads. MacArthur Center Mall opened in March 1999, which made downtown Norfolk a prime shoppers destination, with the region's first Nordstrom department store anchor. MacArthur Center Mall is compared to other downtown malls, such as Baltimore's Harborplace, Indianapolis' Circle Centre Mall, Atlanta's Lenox Square Mall and most comparably to The Fashion Centre at Pentagon City near Washington, D.C., in Arlington, Virginia.
Currently, Virginia Beach's Lynnhaven Mall is the region's largest shopping center with nearly 180 stores, and is one of the region's biggest tourist draws, with the Virginia Beach oceanfront, Colonial Williamsburg, Busch Gardens Williamsburg: The Old Country and the MacArthur Center Mall.
For a long time, the indoor shopping malls were seen as largely competitive with small shopping centers and traditional downtown type areas. However, in the 1990s and since, the "big-box stores" on the Peninsula and Southside, such as Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and Target have been creating a new competitive atmosphere for the shopping malls of Hampton Roads.
Several older malls such as Pembroke and Military Circle have since their grand openings have been renovated several, and others have been closed and torn down. One former Mall is now a business center. Coliseum Mall, in Hampton, is slated to become the next casualty in the latest commercial real estate trend: the nationwide establishment of "lifestyle centers".
| Shopping Mall | Location | Number of Stores | Square Feet | Year Opened |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lynnhaven Mall | Virginia Beach | 180 | 1.4 Million | 1981 |
| MacArthur Center Mall | Norfolk | 140 | 1.1 Million | 1999 |
| Chesapeake Square Mall | Chesapeake | 130 | 800,000 | 1989 |
| Greenbrier Mall | Cheasapeake | 120 | 809,017 | 1981 |
| Patrick Henry Mall | Newport News | 120 | 644,000 | 1989 |
| The Gallery at Military Circle | Norfolk | 120 | 944,447 | 1970 |
| Pembroke Mall | Virginia Beach | 100 | 650,000 | 1966 |
| Coliseum Mall | Hampton | 90 | 1.1 Million | 1973 |
normal seating capacity in parentheses
In 1998, a flag representing the Hampton Roads region was adopted. The design of the flag was created by a contest. The winner, sixteen year-old Andrew J. Wall of Frank W. Cox High School in Virginia Beach, raised the new regional flag for the first time on the mast of a ship moored in the harbor.
As conceived by Andrew and embellished by the selection committee, his flag is highly symbolic: The ring of sixteen white stars stands for the cities and counties that comprise the region of Hampton Roads. The blue upper panel refers to the sea and sky, recalling the first European settlers at Jamestown in 1607, the first battle between ironclad ships in 1862, the importance of shipbuilding and ship repair in the area, as well as maritime commerce, fishing, recreational boating, and the major military and government installations around the area’s shores. Agriculture, the environment, tourism, industry, and a healthy quality of life are suggested by the lower panel of green. The wavy white central band with three crests suggests past, present, and future. The wave also recalls the surf and sand dunes of the area as seen from the sea. Water is the central theme. It touches all the components and binds them together. *
| Name | Stories | Height (in feet) | City | Year Built |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Town Center Westin Hotel (Under Construction) | 37 | 508 | Virginia Beach | 2007 |
| Granby Tower (Under Construction) | 31 | 450 | Norfolk | 2007 |
| Armada Hoffler Tower | 23 | 396 | Virginia Beach | 2002 |
| Dominion Tower | 26 | 340 | Norfolk | 1987 |
| Bank of America Center | 23 | 304 | Norfolk | 1967 |
Geography of Virginia | Cities on the James River | Coastal cities in the United States | James River (Virginia) | Port cities
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