| Year |
Event |
| 1607 |
April 26- Captain Christopher Newport and Company arrive |
| 1610 |
June 8- Mulberry Island first referenced |
| 1610 |
July 9- Humphry Blunt killed by a band of Indians on
the James River. This location there after was known as Blunt/Blount Point |
| 1611 |
Captain Newport's last voyage to Newport's News bringing
Sir Thomas Dale who was responsible for reorganizing the colony |
| 1619 |
Nov. 11- Records of the Virginia Company of London identify
the colonists settlement as Newport's News |
| 1622 |
March 22- Newport News was defended by Daniel Gookin
and 35 men following the Great Indian Massacre |
| 1624 |
Richard Stevens is involved in a dual that fatally wounded
Lt. George Harrison |
| 1624 |
August 14- Edward Waters patented land on Waters Creek,
now Lake Maury in the grounds of the Mariners Museum. |
| 1626 |
Bolthrope, a tract of some 500 acres is patented by Richard
Stevens |
| 1627 |
Earliest record of a church building (Mulberry Island)
located adjacent to Thos. Harwood's plantation, Queen's Hith, in Stanley's
Hundred on Baker's Neck. |
| 1628 |
An area of land, known as "The Forest" is patented
by Zachariah Cripps. This land later acquired by the Cary family and became
part of an area called Richneck. |
| 1628 |
The plantation at Merry Point, the home of William Parker,
is first recorded. |
| 1629 |
Denbigh, best known of the Warwick Plantations was so
named and was the seat of Capt. Mathews, who in 1626 is recorded as having
taken up land in the Blunt Point area, calling his plantation "Mathew's
Manor". He served as governor of Virginia from 1657-1660. A portion
of the Denbigh plantation is now the Newport News City Farm. |
| 1631 |
Monthly court first established in the Warwick River
area. The following commissioners were named: Capt. Samuel Mathews, Capt.
Richard Stephens, Capt. Thomas Flint, John Brewer, Zachariah Cripps and
Thomas Ceeley |
| 1631 |
Nutmeg Quarter church erected. |
| 1634 |
Warwick River Shire established. It took it's name from
Robert Rich, second Earl of Warwick and a prominent member of the Virginia
Company. |
| 1637 |
Capt. Samuel Stevens inherits Bolthrope from his father. |
| 1643 |
Warwick River Shire becomes Warwick County |
| 1643 |
Windmill Point recorded in a land patent by Thomas Taylor. |
| 1643 |
Colonial Assembly described the boundaries of Warwick
River Shire and shortened the name to Warwick County. |
| 1691 |
First courthouse and jail at Warwicktown ordered repaired. |
| 1704 |
Virginia Rent Roll of 1704 lists 125 parcels of land
in Warwick. Among the prominent families of the period in Warwick County:
Ranshaw, Roscow, Mountfort, Harwood, Lucas, Digges, Crew, Whitaker, Cary,
Jones, Scasbrook, Wills, Llewellyn and Cole. |
| 1720 |
Endview completed before this date. Originally a plantation
of the Harwood family, it has been the property of the Curtis family for
several generations. Much of the original structure remains. |
| 1727 |
One of the very few early colonial homes of brick that
is still standing today, is built on Mulberry Island. Mathew Jones II is
credited with building the house called Bourbon. |
| 1776 |
May 6- William Harwood and Richard Cary, Warwick County
delegates, joined with other delegates in declaring the government of George
III over Virginia to be totally dissolved. |
| 1780 |
Oct. 20- Invasion of Warwick by the British |
| 1781 |
Washington's troops stop at End View during their march
to Yorktown to engage General Cornwallis' troops |
| 1782-1785 |
The state enumeration for Warwick County showed 111 families
with 586 whites and 774 Negroes. |
| 1786 |
Newport's News designated as a port of entry |
| 1809 |
Reestablishment of Warwick Co. seat at Stony Run, Denbigh. |
| 1810 |
November- Second court house erected at Denbigh. |
| 1848 |
The beginning of the building of Lee Hall Mansion as
the home of Richard Decauter Lee. This tract was originally part of the
Oak Hill tract of some 3000 acres. |
| 1851 |
U.S. Post Office first established at "New Port
News" at the foot of Bennett's Wharf |
| 1861 |
June 10- First land engagement of the Civil War was fought
at Big Bethel between the troops of Col. John Bankhead Magruder (Confederate)
and Gen. Ebenezer Pierce (Union). The Union forces were repulsed. |
| 1865 |
April- Establishment of prisoner of war camp at Newport
News. 25 Acres surrounded by 12' fence. Camp vacated by August 2. |
| 1881 |
October- First passenger train departed from Newport
News en route to the Centennial Celebration grounds at Yorktown via temporary
tracks laid from Lee Hall. |
| 1884 |
New Warwick Co. courthouse erected in Denbigh |
| 1888 |
Removal of seat of government of Warwick from Denbigh
to Newport News |
| 1890 |
Summer- Large section of downtown Newport News destroyed
by fire. |
| 1896 |
January- Newport News withdrew from Warwick Co. and was
incorporated as a city. |
| 1899 |
August- A Yellow Fever scare spread great alarm through
the Peninsula. There was a tremendous exodus by boat and train as a result. |
| 1914 |
Curtis Flying Field established following the outbreak
of World War I |
| 1917 |
Winter- Severe weather and low temperatures plagued the
Peninsula. Ice clogged Hampton Roads and the James River, interfering with
shipping. |
| 1918 |
January- U.S. Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corp commenced
the construction of 500 homes in Warwick Co. on the site of Hilton Farm.
This became Hilton Village. |
| 1918 |
March- Camp Eustis established. |
| 1918 |
Autumn-Severe epidemic of influenza swept the Peninsula
and the nation at large bringing heavy mortality |
| 1923 |
Camp Eustis renamed Fort Eustis. |
| 1930 |
June 2- The Mariners Museum founded by Archer M. Huntington
began acquiring some 880 acres in Warwick fronting the James River to establish
a park and museum. |
| 1933 |
August 23- A violent hurricane swept the Peninsula doing
some $3 million worth of damage. |
| 1947 |
May- The Peninsula Airport Commission acquired a tract
of 924 acres at Camp Patrick Henry to serve as the site for a proposed Peninsula
Airport. |
| 1949 |
November- Dedication of the Patrick Henry Airport. |
| 1952 |
City of Warwick incorporated. |
| 1954 |
Hurricane "Hazel" swept the Peninsula doing
considerable damage. |
| 1957 |
July 16- Citizens of Newport News and Warwick vote to
form one city. |
| 1957 |
September 10- Voters decide the consolidated city to
be named Newport News |
| 1958 |
July 1- The city of Greater Newport News became an actuality
as the third largest city in Virginia with a 65 square mile area. |