Penniman, Virginia
Encyclopedia
Penniman was an unincorporated town in northwestern York County
, on the south bank of the York River
six miles (10 km) northeast of Williamsburg
in the Virginia Peninsula
area of the Hampton Roads
region of southeastern Virginia
in the United States
. It was named for Russell Sylvanus Penniman, an American chemist who in 1885 invented ammonia dynamite.
As part of the World War I
war efforts, Penniman was built by the E.I. DuPont Nemours
company originally to manufacture TNT, but was converted to other use in support of the U.S. Navy. The Penniman plant was built to employ 10,000 person, and housing for 15,000 was built in the new development. Although it was largely abandoned after 1919, and the few residents in the area farmed after World War I, it was returned to military use less than 25 years later.
During World War II
, the area including Penniman was taken over by the military and became a Navy facility known as Cheatham Annex, which later became part of the adjacent Naval Weapons Station Yorktown
, access to which is still is restricted. The former town of Penniman is one of the Lost towns of Virginia.
company announced that it would develop a large black powder and shell-loading plant facility six miles northeast of Williamsburg
in York County
. The publicity department of the DuPont Powder Company, Wilmington, Delaware
estimated that there would possibly be about 200 men employed at the new powder plant. In fact, the plant as built was large enough to have ten thousand employees.
The new plant and the new town for the workers and families were named Penniman, in honor of Russell Sylvanus Penniman, an American chemist who is credited with the invention of ammonia dynamite in 1885, a safer form than the nitroglycerin used with Alfred Nobel
's original formulation. At its peak, Penniman had housing for 15,000, and included dormitories, a store, a post office, bank, police station, church, YWCA, YMCA, Mess Halls canteen, and a hospital. The York County Chapter of the American Red Cross
began with initial activities in support of the Dupont Factory and residents of Penniman.
In the fall of 1916, the first unit of the plant at Penniman was completed. Commonly known as the Penniman Plant or as Dupont plant #37, the high wages paid at the plant affected labor in the surrounding area. Farmers were greatly handicapped in putting in their crops owing to the exodus of farm labor to the munition plants. Rents and food prices rose.
The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway
(C&O) built a spur track on the Peninsula Subdivision from a point about 2 miles (3.2 km) east of Williamsburg
(mp 33) to the York River
site, the C&O depot to be used for the DuPont station which opened on June 1, 1916. In July, 1916, the Williamsburg Chamber of Commerce requested the C&O establish passenger train service between the city and Penniman. By the fall of 1918, Penniman was a town of about fifteen thousand inhabitants, and there were three passenger trains a day each way between Williamsburg and Penniman.
During the approximately 20 years between 1923 and 1943, the land was in private ownership and was used for farming or left idle.
, in 1942, the U.S. Navy condemned more than 3000 acres (12.1 km²) along the York River to establish Cheatham Annex. Much of the condemned property was part of Penniman. The land was placed into war use again, this time as government-owned storage and shipping facility for the U.S. Navy. Cheatham Annex was commissioned in June 1943 as a satellite unit of the Naval Supply Depot in Norfolk, Virginia
to provide bulk storage facilities in the Hampton Roads
area. The supplies handled there included bulk storage of gasoline
, diesel and other fuels. The rural location was also used to dispose of toxic waste such as medical materials from Navy ships.
for use during the domestic fuel crisis periods of the 1970s. Due to extensive pollution, this turned out to be a bad deal for the state. A portion of the former Penniman site was transferred to the National Park Service
in 1979
and was added to the Colonial National Historical Park
, of which the bucolic and historic Colonial Parkway
is a prominent feature.
In 1998, oversight of the remaining Cheatham Annex facility was shifted to the adjacent Naval Weapons Station Yorktown
. In 2000, a portion of the Cheatham Annex complex was designated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a Superfund
cleanup site.
, which is reportedly a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) training facility often referred as "The Farm." Much like Penniman, the government takeover of the land into a military facility consumed two other lost towns, Magruder
, and Bigler's Mill
. Access to all these areas is restricted.
To the south of the military reservations, extending from State Route 199 just north of Interstate 64
toward Williamsburg, Penniman Road still largely follows the northern portion of the Old Williamsburg Road which led from Yorktown to the old colonial capital city and passed through the Naval Weapons Station and Cheatham Annex property. Near Fort Magruder
, centerpiece of the Williamsburg Line of defensive works during the American Civil War
, Penniman Road forms a border of James City and York counties, crossing the much newer Merrimack Trail
as it winds its way into the city limits of Williamsburg, ending near Second Street and Page Street.
York County, Virginia
York County is a county located on the north side of the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state of the United States. Situated on the York River and many tributaries, the county seat is the unincorporated town of Yorktown...
, on the south bank of the York River
York River (Virginia)
The York River is a navigable estuary, approximately long, in eastern Virginia in the United States. It ranges in width from at its head to near its mouth on the west side of Chesapeake Bay. Its watershed drains an area including portions of 17 counties of the coastal plain of Virginia north...
six miles (10 km) northeast of Williamsburg
Williamsburg, Virginia
Williamsburg is an independent city located on the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia, USA. As of the 2010 Census, the city had an estimated population of 14,068. It is bordered by James City County and York County, and is an independent city...
in the Virginia Peninsula
Virginia Peninsula
The Virginia Peninsula is a peninsula in southeast Virginia, USA, 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...
area of the Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...
region of southeastern Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It was named for Russell Sylvanus Penniman, an American chemist who in 1885 invented ammonia dynamite.
As part of the World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
war efforts, Penniman was built by the E.I. DuPont Nemours
DuPont
E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company , commonly referred to as DuPont, is an American chemical company that was founded in July 1802 as a gunpowder mill by Eleuthère Irénée du Pont. DuPont was the world's third largest chemical company based on market capitalization and ninth based on revenue in 2009...
company originally to manufacture TNT, but was converted to other use in support of the U.S. Navy. The Penniman plant was built to employ 10,000 person, and housing for 15,000 was built in the new development. Although it was largely abandoned after 1919, and the few residents in the area farmed after World War I, it was returned to military use less than 25 years later.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the area including Penniman was taken over by the military and became a Navy facility known as Cheatham Annex, which later became part of the adjacent Naval Weapons Station Yorktown
Naval Weapons Station Yorktown
Naval Weapons Station Yorktown is a United States Navy base in York County, James City County, and Newport News in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia...
, access to which is still is restricted. The former town of Penniman is one of the Lost towns of Virginia.
World War I
Then, in 1916, the E.I. DuPont NemoursDuPont
E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company , commonly referred to as DuPont, is an American chemical company that was founded in July 1802 as a gunpowder mill by Eleuthère Irénée du Pont. DuPont was the world's third largest chemical company based on market capitalization and ninth based on revenue in 2009...
company announced that it would develop a large black powder and shell-loading plant facility six miles northeast of Williamsburg
Williamsburg, Virginia
Williamsburg is an independent city located on the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia, USA. As of the 2010 Census, the city had an estimated population of 14,068. It is bordered by James City County and York County, and is an independent city...
in York County
York County, Virginia
York County is a county located on the north side of the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state of the United States. Situated on the York River and many tributaries, the county seat is the unincorporated town of Yorktown...
. The publicity department of the DuPont Powder Company, Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States, and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...
estimated that there would possibly be about 200 men employed at the new powder plant. In fact, the plant as built was large enough to have ten thousand employees.
The new plant and the new town for the workers and families were named Penniman, in honor of Russell Sylvanus Penniman, an American chemist who is credited with the invention of ammonia dynamite in 1885, a safer form than the nitroglycerin used with Alfred Nobel
Alfred Nobel
Alfred Bernhard Nobel was a Swedish chemist, engineer, innovator, and armaments manufacturer. He is the inventor of dynamite. Nobel also owned Bofors, which he had redirected from its previous role as primarily an iron and steel producer to a major manufacturer of cannon and other armaments...
's original formulation. At its peak, Penniman had housing for 15,000, and included dormitories, a store, a post office, bank, police station, church, YWCA, YMCA, Mess Halls canteen, and a hospital. The York County Chapter of the American Red Cross
American Red Cross
The American Red Cross , also known as the American National Red Cross, is a volunteer-led, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief and education inside the United States. It is the designated U.S...
began with initial activities in support of the Dupont Factory and residents of Penniman.
In the fall of 1916, the first unit of the plant at Penniman was completed. Commonly known as the Penniman Plant or as Dupont plant #37, the high wages paid at the plant affected labor in the surrounding area. Farmers were greatly handicapped in putting in their crops owing to the exodus of farm labor to the munition plants. Rents and food prices rose.
The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway
Chesapeake and Ohio Railway
The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis P...
(C&O) built a spur track on the Peninsula Subdivision from a point about 2 miles (3.2 km) east of Williamsburg
Williamsburg, Virginia
Williamsburg is an independent city located on the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia, USA. As of the 2010 Census, the city had an estimated population of 14,068. It is bordered by James City County and York County, and is an independent city...
(mp 33) to the York River
York River (Virginia)
The York River is a navigable estuary, approximately long, in eastern Virginia in the United States. It ranges in width from at its head to near its mouth on the west side of Chesapeake Bay. Its watershed drains an area including portions of 17 counties of the coastal plain of Virginia north...
site, the C&O depot to be used for the DuPont station which opened on June 1, 1916. In July, 1916, the Williamsburg Chamber of Commerce requested the C&O establish passenger train service between the city and Penniman. By the fall of 1918, Penniman was a town of about fifteen thousand inhabitants, and there were three passenger trains a day each way between Williamsburg and Penniman.
Between the wars
In November 1918, the armistice which ended World War I was signed, which meant the end of need for the ammunitions plant. The village eventually deteriorated and closed. For while after World War I, Penniman was used for demilitarization activities. The population of Penniman left when the jobs ended after what everyone called "the Great War." By June 1919, population of Penniman was estimated at less than 100. DuPont dismantled most of its equipment and facilities.During the approximately 20 years between 1923 and 1943, the land was in private ownership and was used for farming or left idle.
World War II: Cheatham Annex
During World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, in 1942, the U.S. Navy condemned more than 3000 acres (12.1 km²) along the York River to establish Cheatham Annex. Much of the condemned property was part of Penniman. The land was placed into war use again, this time as government-owned storage and shipping facility for the U.S. Navy. Cheatham Annex was commissioned in June 1943 as a satellite unit of the Naval Supply Depot in Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
to provide bulk storage facilities in the Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...
area. The supplies handled there included bulk storage of gasoline
Gasoline
Gasoline , or petrol , is a toxic, translucent, petroleum-derived liquid that is primarily used as a fuel in internal combustion engines. It consists mostly of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with a variety of additives. Some gasolines also contain...
, diesel and other fuels. The rural location was also used to dispose of toxic waste such as medical materials from Navy ships.
After World War II
Cheatham Annex continued as a Navy supply depot after World War II. A portion of the bulk fuel storage facilities was transferred by the federal government to the Commonwealth of VirginiaVirginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
for use during the domestic fuel crisis periods of the 1970s. Due to extensive pollution, this turned out to be a bad deal for the state. A portion of the former Penniman site was transferred to the National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
in 1979
and was added to the Colonial National Historical Park
Colonial National Historical Park
Colonial National Historical Park is located in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia and is operated by the National Park Service of the United States government...
, of which the bucolic and historic Colonial Parkway
Colonial Parkway
Colonial Parkway is a scenic 23-mile parkway linking the three popular attractions of Virginia's Historic Triangle of colonial-era communities, Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown...
is a prominent feature.
In 1998, oversight of the remaining Cheatham Annex facility was shifted to the adjacent Naval Weapons Station Yorktown
Naval Weapons Station Yorktown
Naval Weapons Station Yorktown is a United States Navy base in York County, James City County, and Newport News in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia...
. In 2000, a portion of the Cheatham Annex complex was designated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a Superfund
Superfund
Superfund is the common name for the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 , a United States federal law designed to clean up sites contaminated with hazardous substances...
cleanup site.
Legacy
As of 2007, the remaining portion of the site of the lost town of Penniman on the Cheatham Annex property is bordered to the northwest by Camp PearyCamp Peary
Camp Peary is a military reservation in York County near Williamsburg, Virginia. Officially it is referred to as the Armed Forces Experimental Training Activity under the auspices of the Department of Defense, but it is widely believed to be the location of a covert CIA training facility known...
, which is reportedly a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) training facility often referred as "The Farm." Much like Penniman, the government takeover of the land into a military facility consumed two other lost towns, Magruder
Magruder, Virginia
Magruder was a small unincorporated town in Virginia near Williamsburg in York County. Now extinct, it once had its own church, post office, cemetery, lodge, and homes. Magruder is considered one of the many lost towns of Virginia. The land on which it stood is now part of the US military...
, and Bigler's Mill
Bigler's Mill, Virginia
Bigler's Mill was a small town in Virginia near Williamsburg in York County which is now extinct. It is now considered one of the many lost towns of Virginia....
. Access to all these areas is restricted.
To the south of the military reservations, extending from State Route 199 just north of Interstate 64
Interstate 64 in Virginia
In the U.S. state of Virginia, Interstate 64 runs east–west through the middle of the state from West Virginia to the Hampton Roads region, a total of . It is notable for crossing the mouth of the harbor of Hampton Roads on the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel, the first bridge-tunnel to...
toward Williamsburg, Penniman Road still largely follows the northern portion of the Old Williamsburg Road which led from Yorktown to the old colonial capital city and passed through the Naval Weapons Station and Cheatham Annex property. Near Fort Magruder
Fort Magruder
Fort Magruder was an high earthen fortification straddling the road between Yorktown and Williamsburg, Virginia, just outside the latter city during the American Civil War...
, centerpiece of the Williamsburg Line of defensive works during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, Penniman Road forms a border of James City and York counties, crossing the much newer Merrimack Trail
Merrimack Trail
Merrimack Trail is the local name for State Route 143 as it passes through portions of York County and James City County and the independent city of Williamsburg in the Virginia Peninsula subregion of Hampton Roads in Virginia.-History:...
as it winds its way into the city limits of Williamsburg, ending near Second Street and Page Street.
Publications
- McCartney, Martha W. (1977) James City County: Keystone of the Commonwealth; James City County, Virginia; Donning and Company; ISBN 089865999X
Websites
- "Cast Down Your Buckets Where You Are" An Ethnohistorical Study of the African-American Community on the Lands of the Yorktown Naval Weapons Station 1865-1918