Queen's Creek
Encyclopedia
Queen's Creek is located in York County
in the Virginia Peninsula
area of the Hampton Roads
region of southeastern Virginia
in the United States
. From a point of origin near the Waller Mill Reservoir in western York County it flows northeasterly across the northern half of the Peninsula as a tributary of the York River
.
in the Colony of Virginia was first settled by English colonists beginning in 1607 along the James River
, the colonists had frequent and violent encounters with the Native Americans who had long lived there, and were increasingly squeezed out by the every-growing number of colonists, exacerbated by their cultivation of land-hungry tobacco
as a cash crop
to export after 1612.
Queen's Creek first came into a significant role in the colony as an important part of an important fortification in the 1630s.
The idea of a palisade
or fortification across the peninsula was discussed as early as 1611. But, during the era of the marriage of colonist John Rolfe
and Native Princess Pocahontas
, who were married in 1614, there was a period of peaceful relations with the Natives, and nothing was immediately done in furtherance of the suggestion.
The idea of building a palisade was renewed around 1623, following the Indian Massacre of 1622
. At that time, of the settlers in Martin's Hundred
at Wolstenholme Towne
, situated on the James about 6 miles (9.7 km) below Jamestown, seventy-three were slain, and the survivors were so alarmed and weakened that the settlement was temporarily abandoned. Governor Francis Wyatt
and his Council wrote to the Earl of Southampton
that they had under consideration a plan of "winning the forest" by running a pale between the James and York.
Dr. John Pott
s blazed the way by obtaining on July 12, 1632 a patent for 1200 acres (4.9 km²) at the head of Archer's Hope Creek (later renamed College Creek
), midway between the James River at Archer's Hope and the former Native American village of Chiskiack near the York River
. On September 4, 1632, the General Assembly
directed that the encouragement of land offered two years before to inhabitants at Chiskiack, should also be granted to all persons settling between Queen's Creek and Archer's Hope Creek.
In February, 1633, it was enacted that a fortieth part of the men in "the compasse of the forest" east of Archer's Hope and Queen's Creek to Chesapeake Bay
(essentially all of the lower peninsula) should be present "before the first day of March next" at Dr. John Potts' plantation, "newlie built," to erect houses and secure the land in that quarter. Work on the palisade commenced by March 1, 1633.
With this labor, palisades, six miles (10 km) in length, were run from creek to creek, as the palisade continued to reach Queen's Creek, which drained the northern half of the nearby section of the Peninsula, with a watershed leading to the York River. The two creeks and the palisade in between created a barrier from river to river. At the high ridge at the midpoint, a settlement to be called Middle Plantation
was made.
By 1634, the palisade (or stockade) was completed, providing some security from attacks by the Native Americans for colonists farming and fishing lower on the Peninsula from that point. Anchored at its center by Middle Plantation, the palisade is partially described in the following extract from a letter written in 1634, from Jamestown, by Captain Thomas Yonge:
"a strong palisade ... upon a streight between both rivers and ... a sufficient force of men to defence of the same, whereby all the lower part of Virginia have a range for their cattle, near fortie miles in length and in most places twelve miles (19 km) broade. The pallisades is very neare
six miles (10 km) long, bounded in by two large Creekes. ... in this manner to take also in all the grounde between those two Rivers, and so utterly excluded the Indians from thence; which work is conceived to be of extraordinary benefit to the country ..."
After 1644, the Native Americans of the Powhatan Confederacy had been overcome and were no longer a threat, and the palisade fell into disrepair, with almost all traces eventually disappearing. However, Middle Plantation began to grow as a settlement, largely due to early efforts of the Ludwell brothers and Colonel John Page
and his sons, who built fine brick homes and helped with the establishment of a fine brick Bruton Parish Church
. The 1690s saw a quick rise to prominence as Reverend Dr. James Blair
, Commissary of the Bishop of London
in the colony, returned from a successful trip to London
and a royal charter
for the new College of William and Mary
. Blair and the trustees of the College of William and Mary bought a parcel of 330 acres (1.3 km²) from Thomas Ballard, the proprietor of Rich Neck Plantation, for the new school , on the western outskirts of Middle Plantation, just a short distance from the almost new brick Bruton Parish Church
, a focal point of the extant community.
The new school opened in temporary buildings in 1694. Properly called the "College Building," the first version of the Wren Building
was built at Middle Plantation beginning on August 8, 1695 and occupied by 1700 on a picturesque site. (The present-day College still stands upon those grounds, adjacent to and just west of the restored historic area known in modern times as Colonial Williamsburg
).
After the statehouse at Jamestown
burned in 1698, the legislature moved temporarily to Middle Plantation, as it had in the past. Upon suggestion of students of the College, the capital was permanently relocated there, and Middle Plantation was renamed Williamsburg
in 1699. Nearby, Archer's Hope Creek was also renamed. It became College Creek.
, Queen's Creek and College Creek again served as parts of another cross-peninsula defensive barrier, although the center section across land was located further east, and was of a different nature. Queen's Creek became the northern anchor of the Williamsburg Line. This was a series of 14 redoubts east of town, with earthen Fort Magruder
(also known as Redoubt # 6) at the crucial junction of the two major roads leading to Williamsburg from the east. The design and construction had been oversee by the College of William and Mary's President Benjamin S. Ewell, who owned a farm in James City County, and had been commissioned as an officer in the Confederate Army after the College closed for the duration of the War in June, 1861.
The Williamsburg area saw combat in the spring of 1862 during the Peninsula Campaign
, an effort to take Richmond from the east from a base at Fort Monroe
. Throughout late 1861 and early 1862, the small contingent of Confederate defenders was known as the Army of the Peninsula, and led by popular General John B. Magruder
. He successfully used ruse tactics to bluff the invaders as to the size and strength of his forces, and intimidated them into a slow movement up the Peninsula, gaining valuable time defenses to be constructed for the Confederate capital at Richmond.
In early May, 1862, after holding the Union troops off for over a month, the defenders withdrew quietly from the Warwick Line
(stretching across the Peninsula between Yorktown
and Mulberry Island
). As General George McClellan
's Union forces crept up the Peninsula to pursue the retreating Confederate forces, a rear guard force led by General James Longstreet
and supported by General J.E.B. Stuart
's cavalry blocked their westward progression at the Williamsburg Line.
At the Battle of Williamsburg
on May 5, 1862, and the next day, May 6, the city fell to the Union. However, the retreating defenders behind the williamsburg Line had been successful in delaying the Union forces long enough for the retreating Confederates to reach the outer defenses of Richmond safely. A siege of Richmond resulted, culminating in the Seven Days Battles
, and McClellan's campaign failed. As a result, the War dragged on almost 3 more years at great cost to lives and finances for both sides before its conclusion in April 1865. Much damage was done to the community during the Union occupation, which lasted until September 1865.
was as State Route 168 from Anderson Corner (near Toano
in western James City County) to the eastern tip of the Peninsula to reach ferry services across the harbor of Hampton Roads
to Norfolk
. Its purpose was to supplement the capacity of parallel U.S. Route 60
, especially as traffic volume grew with the development of Colonial Williamsburg
. It featured a bridge across College Creek. Nearby, the new State Route 132 was built to provide access to the Colonial Parkway, the Visitor's Center of Colonial Williamsburg, and a planned non-commercially featured entrance to the Historic Area and downtown points, such as the brick colonial-style Chesapeake and Ohio Railway
station (since restored and in use as the Williamsburg Transportation Center). Route 132 also bridged Queen's Creek, slightly upstream from the Merrimac Trail.
In the 1960s, Interstate 64
was built through the area. The bridges across Queen's Creek, which has grown wide by that point downstream, are among the largest along the highway in York County. Motorists in both directions are given a scenic view of the brackish creek, adjacent wetland
s and waterfowl.
North of Interstate 64, Queen's Creek forms the border between the military reservations land of Camp Peary
and the Cheatham Annex section of the Naval Weapons Station Yorktown
. The former towns of Magruder
and Bigler's Mill
were located north of Queen's Creek in this area. The former town of Penniman
south of Queen's Creek and north of King's Creek near their respective confluences with the York River. With the creation of the military reservations, the three towns joined history with other "lost towns" of Virginia. Many displaced residents relocated nearby, and some families and their descendents live in Grove
in southeastern James City 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...
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...
. From a point of origin near the Waller Mill Reservoir in western York County it flows northeasterly across the northern half of the Peninsula as a tributary 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...
.
17th century: anchoring the palisade
As JamestownJamestown, Virginia
Jamestown was a settlement in the Colony of Virginia. Established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 14, 1607 , it was the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States, following several earlier failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke...
in the Colony of Virginia was first settled by English colonists beginning in 1607 along the James River
James River (Virginia)
The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia. It is long, extending to if one includes the Jackson River, the longer of its two source tributaries. The James River drains a catchment comprising . The watershed includes about 4% open water and an area with a population of 2.5 million...
, the colonists had frequent and violent encounters with the Native Americans who had long lived there, and were increasingly squeezed out by the every-growing number of colonists, exacerbated by their cultivation of land-hungry tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
as a cash crop
Cash crop
In agriculture, a cash crop is a crop which is grown for profit.The term is used to differentiate from subsistence crops, which are those fed to the producer's own livestock or grown as food for the producer's family...
to export after 1612.
Queen's Creek first came into a significant role in the colony as an important part of an important fortification in the 1630s.
The idea of a palisade
Palisade
A palisade is a steel or wooden fence or wall of variable height, usually used as a defensive structure.- Typical construction :Typical construction consisted of small or mid sized tree trunks aligned vertically, with no spacing in between. The trunks were sharpened or pointed at the top, and were...
or fortification across the peninsula was discussed as early as 1611. But, during the era of the marriage of colonist John Rolfe
John Rolfe
John Rolfe was one of the early English settlers of North America. He is credited with the first successful cultivation of tobacco as an export crop in the Colony of Virginia and is known as the husband of Pocahontas, daughter of the chief of the Powhatan Confederacy.In 1961, the Jamestown...
and Native Princess Pocahontas
Pocahontas
Pocahontas was a Virginia Indian notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter of Chief Powhatan, the head of a network of tributary tribal nations in Tidewater Virginia...
, who were married in 1614, there was a period of peaceful relations with the Natives, and nothing was immediately done in furtherance of the suggestion.
The idea of building a palisade was renewed around 1623, following the Indian Massacre of 1622
Indian massacre of 1622
The Indian Massacre of 1622 occurred in the Colony of Virginia, in what now belongs to the United States of America, on Friday, March 22, 1622...
. At that time, of the settlers in Martin's Hundred
Martin's Hundred
Martin's Hundred was an early 17th century plantation located along about ten miles of the north shore of the James River in the Virginia Colony east of Jamestown in the southeastern portion of present-day James City County, Virginia...
at Wolstenholme Towne
Wolstenholme Towne
Wolstenholme Towne was a fortified settlement in the Virginia Colony begun with a population of about 40 settlers of the Virginia Company of London which was located about 7 miles downstream from Jamestown. Named for Sir John Wolstenholme, one of the investors, it was established about 1618 on a...
, situated on the James about 6 miles (9.7 km) below Jamestown, seventy-three were slain, and the survivors were so alarmed and weakened that the settlement was temporarily abandoned. Governor Francis Wyatt
Francis Wyatt
Sir Francis Wyatt was the first English royal governor of Virginia. He sailed for America on August 1, 1621 on board the George. He became governor shortly after his arrival in October, taking with him the first written constitution for an English colony...
and his Council wrote to the Earl of Southampton
Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton
Henry Wriothesley , 3rd Earl of Southampton , was the second son of Henry Wriothesley, 2nd Earl of Southampton, and his wife Mary Browne, Countess of Southampton, daughter of the 1st Viscount Montagu...
that they had under consideration a plan of "winning the forest" by running a pale between the James and York.
Dr. John Pott
John Pott
John Potts was a physician and Colonial Governor of Virginia at the Jamestown settlement in the Virginia Colony in the early 17th century.-Biography:...
s blazed the way by obtaining on July 12, 1632 a patent for 1200 acres (4.9 km²) at the head of Archer's Hope Creek (later renamed College Creek
College Creek
College Creek is located in James City County in the Virginia Peninsula area of the Hampton Roads region of southeastern Virginia in the United States...
), midway between the James River at Archer's Hope and the former Native American village of Chiskiack near 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...
. On September 4, 1632, the General Assembly
Virginia General Assembly
The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the oldest legislative body in the Western Hemisphere, established on July 30, 1619. The General Assembly is a bicameral body consisting of a lower house, the Virginia House of Delegates, with 100 members,...
directed that the encouragement of land offered two years before to inhabitants at Chiskiack, should also be granted to all persons settling between Queen's Creek and Archer's Hope Creek.
In February, 1633, it was enacted that a fortieth part of the men in "the compasse of the forest" east of Archer's Hope and Queen's Creek to Chesapeake Bay
Chesapeake Bay
The 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 drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...
(essentially all of the lower peninsula) should be present "before the first day of March next" at Dr. John Potts' plantation, "newlie built," to erect houses and secure the land in that quarter. Work on the palisade commenced by March 1, 1633.
With this labor, palisades, six miles (10 km) in length, were run from creek to creek, as the palisade continued to reach Queen's Creek, which drained the northern half of the nearby section of the Peninsula, with a watershed leading to the York River. The two creeks and the palisade in between created a barrier from river to river. At the high ridge at the midpoint, a settlement to be called Middle Plantation
Middle Plantation
Middle Plantation in the Virginia Colony, was the unincorporated town established in 1632 that became Williamsburg in 1699. It was located on high ground about half-way across the Virginia Peninsula between the James River and York River. Middle Plantation represented the first major inland...
was made.
By 1634, the palisade (or stockade) was completed, providing some security from attacks by the Native Americans for colonists farming and fishing lower on the Peninsula from that point. Anchored at its center by Middle Plantation, the palisade is partially described in the following extract from a letter written in 1634, from Jamestown, by Captain Thomas Yonge:
"a strong palisade ... upon a streight between both rivers and ... a sufficient force of men to defence of the same, whereby all the lower part of Virginia have a range for their cattle, near fortie miles in length and in most places twelve miles (19 km) broade. The pallisades is very neare
six miles (10 km) long, bounded in by two large Creekes. ... in this manner to take also in all the grounde between those two Rivers, and so utterly excluded the Indians from thence; which work is conceived to be of extraordinary benefit to the country ..."
After 1644, the Native Americans of the Powhatan Confederacy had been overcome and were no longer a threat, and the palisade fell into disrepair, with almost all traces eventually disappearing. However, Middle Plantation began to grow as a settlement, largely due to early efforts of the Ludwell brothers and Colonel John Page
John Page (Middle Plantation)
Colonel John Page , a merchant in Middle Plantation on the Virginia Peninsula, was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses and the Council of the Virginia Colony. A wealthy landowner, Page donated land and funds for the first brick Bruton Parish Church. Col...
and his sons, who built fine brick homes and helped with the establishment of a fine brick Bruton Parish Church
Bruton Parish Church
Bruton Parish Church is located in the restored area of Colonial Williamsburg in Williamsburg, Virginia, USA. It was established in 1674 in the Virginia Colony, and remains an active Episcopal parish.-History of Bruton Parish Church:...
. The 1690s saw a quick rise to prominence as Reverend Dr. James Blair
James Blair (clergyman)
James Blair D.D. was a Scottish born clergyman in the Church of England. He was also a missionary and an educator, best known as the founder of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, USA.- Youth and education :...
, Commissary of the Bishop of London
Bishop of London
The Bishop of London is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 458 km² of 17 boroughs of Greater London north of the River Thames and a small part of the County of Surrey...
in the colony, returned from a successful trip to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and a royal charter
Royal Charter
A royal charter is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organizations such as cities or universities. Charters should be distinguished from warrants and...
for the new College of William and Mary
College of William and Mary
The College of William & Mary in Virginia is a public research university located in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States...
. Blair and the trustees of the College of William and Mary bought a parcel of 330 acres (1.3 km²) from Thomas Ballard, the proprietor of Rich Neck Plantation, for the new school , on the western outskirts of Middle Plantation, just a short distance from the almost new brick Bruton Parish Church
Bruton Parish Church
Bruton Parish Church is located in the restored area of Colonial Williamsburg in Williamsburg, Virginia, USA. It was established in 1674 in the Virginia Colony, and remains an active Episcopal parish.-History of Bruton Parish Church:...
, a focal point of the extant community.
The new school opened in temporary buildings in 1694. Properly called the "College Building," the first version of the Wren Building
Wren Building
The Wren Building is the signature building of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, USA. Along with the Brafferton and President's House, these buildings form the College's Historic Campus....
was built at Middle Plantation beginning on August 8, 1695 and occupied by 1700 on a picturesque site. (The present-day College still stands upon those grounds, adjacent to and just west of the restored historic area known in modern times as Colonial Williamsburg
Colonial Williamsburg
Colonial Williamsburg is the private foundation representing the historic district of the city of Williamsburg, Virginia, USA. The district includes buildings dating from 1699 to 1780 which made colonial Virginia's capital. The capital straddled the boundary of the original shires of Virginia —...
).
After the statehouse at Jamestown
Jamestown, Virginia
Jamestown was a settlement in the Colony of Virginia. Established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 14, 1607 , it was the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States, following several earlier failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke...
burned in 1698, the legislature moved temporarily to Middle Plantation, as it had in the past. Upon suggestion of students of the College, the capital was permanently relocated there, and Middle Plantation was renamed 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 1699. Nearby, Archer's Hope Creek was also renamed. It became College Creek.
19th century: another defensive line
In the mid-19th century, during the American Civil WarAmerican 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...
, Queen's Creek and College Creek again served as parts of another cross-peninsula defensive barrier, although the center section across land was located further east, and was of a different nature. Queen's Creek became the northern anchor of the Williamsburg Line. This was a series of 14 redoubts east of town, with earthen 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...
(also known as Redoubt # 6) at the crucial junction of the two major roads leading to Williamsburg from the east. The design and construction had been oversee by the College of William and Mary's President Benjamin S. Ewell, who owned a farm in James City County, and had been commissioned as an officer in the Confederate Army after the College closed for the duration of the War in June, 1861.
The Williamsburg area saw combat in the spring of 1862 during the Peninsula Campaign
Peninsula Campaign
The Peninsula 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. George B...
, an effort to take Richmond from the east from a base at Fort Monroe
Fort Monroe
Fort Monroe was a military installation in Hampton, Virginia—at Old Point Comfort, the southern tip of the Virginia Peninsula...
. Throughout late 1861 and early 1862, the small contingent of Confederate defenders was known as the Army of the Peninsula, and led by popular General John B. Magruder
John B. Magruder
John Bankhead Magruder was a career military officer who served in the armies of three nations. He was a U.S. Army officer in the Mexican-American War, a Confederate general during the American Civil War, and a postbellum general in the Imperial Mexican Army...
. He successfully used ruse tactics to bluff the invaders as to the size and strength of his forces, and intimidated them into a slow movement up the Peninsula, gaining valuable time defenses to be constructed for the Confederate capital at Richmond.
In early May, 1862, after holding the Union troops off for over a month, the defenders withdrew quietly from the Warwick Line
Warwick Line
The Warwick Line was a defensive works across the Virginia Peninsula maintained along the Warwick River by Confederate General John B. Magruder against much larger Union forces under General George B...
(stretching across the Peninsula between Yorktown
Yorktown, Virginia
Yorktown is a census-designated place in York County, Virginia, United States. The population was 220 in the 2000 census. It is the county seat of York County, one of the eight original shires formed in colonial Virginia in 1634....
and Mulberry Island
Mulberry Island
Mulberry Island is located along the James River in the city of Newport News, Virginia, in southeastern Virginia at the confluence of the Warwick River on the Virginia Peninsula.- History:...
). As General George McClellan
George B. McClellan
George Brinton McClellan was a major general during the American Civil War. He organized the famous Army of the Potomac and served briefly as the general-in-chief of the Union Army. Early in the war, McClellan played an important role in raising a well-trained and organized army for the Union...
's Union forces crept up the Peninsula to pursue the retreating Confederate forces, a rear guard force led by General James Longstreet
James Longstreet
James Longstreet was one of the foremost Confederate generals of the American Civil War and the principal subordinate to General Robert E. Lee, who called him his "Old War Horse." He served under Lee as a corps commander for many of the famous battles fought by the Army of Northern Virginia in the...
and supported by General J.E.B. Stuart
J.E.B. Stuart
James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart was a U.S. Army officer from Virginia and a Confederate States Army general during the American Civil War. He was known to his friends as "Jeb", from the initials of his given names. Stuart was a cavalry commander known for his mastery of reconnaissance and the use...
's cavalry blocked their westward progression at the Williamsburg Line.
At the Battle of Williamsburg
Battle of Williamsburg
The Battle of Williamsburg, also known as the Battle of Fort Magruder, took place on May 5, 1862, in York County, James City County, and Williamsburg, Virginia, as part of the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War...
on May 5, 1862, and the next day, May 6, the city fell to the Union. However, the retreating defenders behind the williamsburg Line had been successful in delaying the Union forces long enough for the retreating Confederates to reach the outer defenses of Richmond safely. A siege of Richmond resulted, culminating in the Seven Days Battles
Seven Days Battles
The Seven Days Battles was a series of six major battles over the seven days from June 25 to July 1, 1862, near Richmond, Virginia during the American Civil War. Confederate General Robert E. Lee drove the invading Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, away from...
, and McClellan's campaign failed. As a result, the War dragged on almost 3 more years at great cost to lives and finances for both sides before its conclusion in April 1865. Much damage was done to the community during the Union occupation, which lasted until September 1865.
20th-21st centuries
In the 1930s, the Merrimack TrailMerrimack 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:...
was as State Route 168 from Anderson Corner (near Toano
Toano, Virginia
Toano is an unincorporated town in James City County, Virginia, United States.-History:Toano was established in the late 19th century in western James City County at the former site of Burnt Ordinary, which was named in the 18th century for a roadside tavern that had burned down...
in western James City County) to the eastern tip of the Peninsula to reach ferry services across the harbor of 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...
to Norfolk
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....
. Its purpose was to supplement the capacity of parallel U.S. Route 60
U.S. Route 60 in Virginia
U.S. Route 60 in Virginia runs west to east through the central part of the state, generally close to and paralleling the Interstate 64 corridor, except for the crossing of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and in the South Hampton Roads area....
, especially as traffic volume grew with the development of Colonial Williamsburg
Colonial Williamsburg
Colonial Williamsburg is the private foundation representing the historic district of the city of Williamsburg, Virginia, USA. The district includes buildings dating from 1699 to 1780 which made colonial Virginia's capital. The capital straddled the boundary of the original shires of Virginia —...
. It featured a bridge across College Creek. Nearby, the new State Route 132 was built to provide access to the Colonial Parkway, the Visitor's Center of Colonial Williamsburg, and a planned non-commercially featured entrance to the Historic Area and downtown points, such as the brick colonial-style 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...
station (since restored and in use as the Williamsburg Transportation Center). Route 132 also bridged Queen's Creek, slightly upstream from the Merrimac Trail.
In the 1960s, 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...
was built through the area. The bridges across Queen's Creek, which has grown wide by that point downstream, are among the largest along the highway in York County. Motorists in both directions are given a scenic view of the brackish creek, adjacent wetland
Wetland
A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....
s and waterfowl.
North of Interstate 64, Queen's Creek forms the border between the military reservations land of Camp Peary
Camp 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...
and the Cheatham Annex section of the 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...
. The former towns of 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....
were located north of Queen's Creek in this area. The former town of Penniman
Penniman, Virginia
Penniman was an unincorporated town in northwestern York County, on the south bank of the York River six miles northeast of Williamsburg in the Virginia Peninsula area of the Hampton Roads region of southeastern Virginia in the United States...
south of Queen's Creek and north of King's Creek near their respective confluences with the York River. With the creation of the military reservations, the three towns joined history with other "lost towns" of Virginia. Many displaced residents relocated nearby, and some families and their descendents live in Grove
Grove, Virginia
Grove is an unincorporated community in the southeastern portion of James City County in the Peninsula subregion of Virginia in the United States. It is located in the center of the Historic Triangle of Colonial Virginia, communities linked by the Colonial Parkway; the area is one of the busiest...
in southeastern James City County.
Publications
- McCartney, Martha W. (1977) James City County: Keystone of the Commonwealth; James City County, Virginia; Donning and Company; ISBN 0-89865-999-X
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
External links
- York County website
- Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance - serving York County