Virginia Peninsula in the context of "Middle Plantation, Virginia"

Williamsburg is an independent city in Virginia, United States. It had a population of 15,425 at the 2020 census. Located on the Virginia Peninsula, Williamsburg is in the northern part of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. It is bordered by James City County on the west and south and York County on the east.

In 1632, English settlers founded Middle Plantation as a fortified settlement on high ground between the James and York rivers and farther inland than their headquarters at Jamestown. The city of Williamsburg was established at the site of Middle Plantation in 1699. It functioned as the capital of the Colony and Commonwealth of Virginia from 1699 to 1780 and became the center of political events in Virginia leading to the American Revolution. The College of William & Mary, established in Middle Plantation in 1693, is the second-oldest institution of higher education in the United States. Of the nine colonial colleges in the U.S., it is the only one located in the American South. Its alumni include three U.S. presidents as well as many other important figures in the nation's early history.

37°36′10″N 76°39′15″W / 37.60278°N 76.65417°W / 37.60278; -76.65417

The Middle Peninsula is the second of three large peninsulas on the western shore of Chesapeake Bay in Virginia. To the north the Rappahannock River separates it from the Northern Neck peninsula. To the south the York River separates it from the Virginia Peninsula. It encompasses six Virginia counties: Essex, Gloucester, King and Queen, King William, Mathews, and Middlesex. Developed for tobacco plantations in the colonial era, in the 21st century the Middle Peninsula is known for its quiet rural life, vegetable truck-farming, and fishing industry. As of the 2020 census, the Middle Peninsula was home to 92,886 people.

Old Point Comfort is a point of land located in the independent city of Hampton, Virginia. Previously known as Point Comfort, it lies at the extreme tip of the Virginia Peninsula at the mouth of Hampton Roads in the United States. It was renamed Old Point Comfort to differentiate it from New Point Comfort 21 miles (34 km) up the Chesapeake Bay. A group of enslaved Africans (first fleet) was brought to colonial Virginia at this point in 1619. Today the location is home to Continental Park and Fort Monroe National Monument.

Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS), a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, is the sole designer, builder, and refueler of aircraft carriers and one of two providers of submarines for the United States Navy, founded as the Chesapeake Dry Dock and Construction Co. in 1886 and located in the city of Newport News, Virginia. Newport News Shipbuilding has built more than 800 ships, including both naval and commercial ships. Its facilities span more than 550 acres (2.2 km).

The shipyard is a major employer for the lower Virginia Peninsula, portions of Hampton Roads south of the James River and the harbor, portions of the Middle Peninsula region, and even some northeastern counties of North Carolina.

James City County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 78,254. Although politically separate from the county, the county seat is the adjacent independent city of Williamsburg. Located on the Virginia Peninsula, James City County is included in the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is often associated with Williamsburg, an independent city, and Jamestown which is within the county.

First settled by the English colonists in 1607 at Jamestown in the Virginia Colony, the county was formally created in 1634 as James City Shire by order of King Charles I. James City County is considered one of only five original shires of Virginia to still be extant today in essentially the same political form. The Jamestown 2007 celebration marked the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown.

Newport News (/ˌnuːpɔːrt -, -pərt -/) is an independent city in southeastern Virginia, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the fifth-most populous city in Virginia and 140th-most populous city in the United States. The city is at the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula, on the northern shore of the James River to the river's mouth on the harbor of Hampton Roads.

Most of the area now known as Newport News was once a part of Warwick County, one of the eight original shires of Virginia formed in the British Colony of Virginia by order of Charles I of England in 1634. Newport News was a rural area of plantations and a small fishing village until after the American Civil War. In 1881, fifteen years of rapid development began under the leadership of Collis P. Huntington, whose new Peninsula Extension of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway opened up means of transportation for the railroad to bring West Virginia bituminous coal to port for coastal shipping. Within a few years, Huntington and his associates also built a large shipyard. Newport News was incorporated in 1896, the new incorporated town. In 1958, by mutual consent by referendum, Newport News was consolidated with Warwick, rejoining the two localities to approximately their pre-1896 geographic size under the more widely-known name of Newport News.

The Northern Neck is the northernmost of three peninsulas (traditionally called "necks" in Virginia) on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay in the Commonwealth of Virginia (along with the Middle Peninsula and the Virginia Peninsula). The Potomac River forms the northern boundary of the peninsula; the Rappahannock River demarcates it on the south. The land between these rivers was formed into Northumberland County in 1648, prior to the creation of Westmoreland County and Lancaster County.

The Northern Neck encompasses the following Virginia counties: Lancaster, Northumberland, Richmond, and Westmoreland; it had a total population of 50,158 as of the 2020 census.

York County (formerly Charles River County) is a county in the eastern part of the Commonwealth of Virginia, located in the Tidewater. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 70,045. The county seat is the unincorporated town of Yorktown.

Located on the north side of the Virginia Peninsula, with the York River as its northern border, York County is included in the Virginia Beach–Norfolk–Newport News, VA–NC Metropolitan Statistical Area.