Lee Hall, Virginia | |
|---|---|
 Lee Hall in December 2007 | |
 Location in the State of Virginia | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Virginia |
Lee Hall is an unincorporated town located in the extreme western portion of the independent city of Newport News in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States.
Lee Hall, located in the former Warwick County, was named for nearby Lee Hall Mansion which was built in 1859 as the home of Richard Decatur Lee, a prominent local farmer who was not directly related to the famous Confederate General Robert E. Lee. The mansion was used as headquarters for Confederate generals Joseph E. Johnston and John B. Magruder during the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War in 1862. Nearby is Endview Plantation, a 238-year-old house. Endview was used as a hospital during the Civil War and as a campground during the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812 and the Civil War.
Lee Hall Depot was a railroad station on the Peninsula Extension of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O), which was built through the area of Warwick County in 1881 to reach the new coal export facilities at Newport News on the port of Hampton Roads. On October 19, 1881, the first passenger train from Newport News took local residents and national officials to the Cornwallis Surrender Centennial Celebration at Yorktown on temporary tracks which were laid from Lee Hall Depot. The Boxwood Inn was built in 1897.
Lee Hall Depot became a very busy railroad station after the establishment nearby of Fort Eustis (originally named Camp Abraham Eustis) in 1918, with freight and heavy troop movements. the busy activity resumed during World War II. It was expanded to accommodate this role. East of Lee Hall, a rail spur leads to the base, where the Fort Eustis Military Railroad operated.
With the coming of the automobile as a common form of travel in the early 20th century, attention was directed to improving roads. As part of the Good Roads Movement, the new road which became U.S. Route 60 was routed from Williamsburg through Grove, bridging Skiffe's Creek as it entered Warwick County to reach Lee Hall. This routing was chosen rather than following a competing route via Halstead's Point in York County (now on the base of the US Naval Weapons Station Yorktown just northeast of the gate on VA-143).
Earlier, the east–west road which became U.S. 60 was State Route 9. SR 9 was renumbered as State Route 39 in 1923, and became U.S. 60 in the mid-1920s when it was routed through Grove. A large ceremony hosted by Warwick County treasurer and civic leader Simon Curtis was held at the Lee Hall Depot in 1924 to celebrate the completion of first hard-surfaced roadway (concrete) between Newport News and Williamsburg.
Two-laned U.S. 60 continues to form the main thoroughfare through the largely residential and neighborhood business section of Grove and Lee Hall, paralleling four-laned State Route 143 and Interstate 64. The village portion of Lee Hall is connected to I-64 via State Route 238 (Yorktown Road).
Although Warwick County became a city in 1952 and then was consolidated with Newport News in 1958, in the half century since, the Lee Hall area has retained a rural atmosphere, partially due to the proximity of the expansive Newport News Park and Newport News Reservoir along the former Warwick River and nearby Skiffe's Creek.
The 26th Balloon Company of the US Army Air Corps had a training school at Lee Hall at least during the summer of 1920 training soldiers for deployment to central and South America service. [1]
In the 21st century, Lee Hall Depot (no longer in use) is the only surviving C&O structure of its type on the Lower Peninsula. It is the only survivor among five stations which were located in Warwick County, the others formerly located at Oriana, Oyster Point, Morrison, and Newport News. The historic 2-story depot was relocated 165 feet to the north of the busy CSX Transportation railroad tracks in 2009, and reopened as a museum in 2021. The adjacent historic area as has been restored and developed as Lee Hall Village. Across the street from the Depot, the Boxwood Inn, a bed and breakfast establishment in an 1896 house, is open and available for overnight visitors and some meals. The city's tourism agency operates several other attractions at Lee Hall Mansion and Endview Plantation, as well as nearby civil war historical sites.
The Lee Hall community is served by exit 247 of Interstate 64. About 1 block from the historic railroad station, U.S. Route 60 and State Route 238 intersect.
Lee Hall is served by both Hampton Roads Transit (HRT) and Williamsburg Area Transit Authority (WATA).
Newport News is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the 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.
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.
Yorktown is a census-designated place (CDP) in York County, Virginia. It is the county seat of York County, one of the eight original shires formed in colonial Virginia in 1682. Yorktown's population was 195 as of the 2010 census, while York County's population was 66,134 in the 2011 census estimate.
The Virginia Peninsula is a peninsula in southeast Virginia, bounded by the York River, James River, Hampton Roads and Chesapeake Bay. It is sometimes known as the Lower Peninsula to distinguish it from two other peninsulas to the north, the Middle Peninsula and the Northern Neck.
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. It provided a weapons and ammunition storage and loading facility for ships of the United States Atlantic Fleet, and more recently, for those from the Fleet Forces Command.
Grove is an unincorporated community in the southeastern portion of James City County in the Virginia 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. This area is one of the busiest tourist destinations in the world.
Endview Plantation is an 18th-century plantation which is located on Virginia State Route 238 in the Lee Hall community in the northwestern area of the independent city of Newport News, Virginia.
Tabb is an unincorporated community in York County, Virginia, United States, on the Virginia Peninsula. Major roads include U.S. Route 17 and State Route 134.
State Route 143 is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of Virginia. The state highway runs 35.39 miles (56.95 km) from Camp Peary near Williamsburg east to U.S. Route 258 at Fort Monroe in Hampton. SR 143 is a major local thoroughfare on the Virginia Peninsula portion of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. The state highway is named Merrimac Trail through the independent city of Williamsburg and adjacent portions of York County and James City County. SR 143 follows Jefferson Avenue through the city of Newport News from the Williamsburg area past Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail to near Downtown Newport News. The state highway, which mostly runs northwest–southeast, heads northeast from Newport News, serving as one highway connecting the downtown areas of Newport News and Hampton. SR 143 parallels both US 60 and Interstate 64 (I-64) extensively, and sometimes very closely, throughout its course. The state highway also runs concurrently with US 60 in Hampton and with US 17 in Newport News.
State Route 238 is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of Virginia. The state highway runs 7.75 miles (12.47 km) from U.S. Route 60 in Newport News east to United States Coast Guard Training Center – Yorktown near Yorktown. SR 238 connects Interstate 64 (I-64) with Naval Weapons Station Yorktown, the Yorktown portion of Colonial National Historical Park, and the Coast Guard training center. The majority of SR 238 is part of the Washington–Rochambeau Revolutionary Route.
State Route 105 is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of Virginia. Known as Fort Eustis Boulevard, the state highway runs 4.90 miles (7.89 km) from Fort Eustis in Newport News east to U.S. Route 17 near Grafton in York County. SR 105 is a cross-peninsula highway that connects Fort Eustis, a U.S. Army installation, with US 60 and Interstate 64 (I-64), and US 17 near Yorktown.
Williamsburg Area Transit Authority (WATA) is a multi-jurisdiction transportation agency providing transit bus and ADA Paratransit services in the City of Williamsburg, James City County, York County in the Historic Triangle area and Surry County, VA of the Virginia Peninsula subregion of Hampton Roads in southeastern Virginia.
U.S. Route 60 (US 60) in the Commonwealth of Virginia runs 303 miles (488 km) 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.
Near the city's western end, a historic C&O railroad station, as well as American Civil War battle sites near historic Lee Hall along U.S. Route 60 and several 19th century plantations have all been protected. Many are located along the roads leading to Yorktown and Williamsburg, where many sites of the Historic Triangle are of both American Revolutionary War and Civil War significance. The first modern duel of ironclad warships, the Battle of Hampton Roads, took place not far off Newport News Point in 1862.
The city of Williamsburg, Virginia has a full range of transport facilities. Williamsburg is served by the Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport, and by two larger but more distant airports. The city is linked to several Interstate and State highways. A transport hub - the Williamsburg Transportation Center - serves bus and rail passengers. Motor traffic is restricted in the historic area, and the city as a whole is more "walkable" than the US norm. Cycling routes are also being provided.
The Peninsula Extension which created the Peninsula Subdivision of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) was the new railroad line on the Virginia Peninsula from Richmond to southeastern Warwick County. Its principal purpose was to provide an important new pathway for coal mined in West Virginia to reach the harbor of Hampton Roads for coastal and export shipping on collier ships.
Lee Hall Depot is a historic train station and museum located in the Lee Hall neighborhood of Newport News, Virginia. It was built in about 1881, with a one-story cargo bay, and the two-story main section was added in 1893. Another one-story wing was added by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway to the north end of the depot in 1918 to handle an influx of military personnel to Fort Eustis. The building is currently in use as a local history museum, focusing on the station's history, and the history of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad in Warwick County.
37°11′31″N76°34′18″W / 37.19194°N 76.57167°W
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