Kecoughtan, Virginia
In the seventeenth century, Kecoughtan was the name of the settlement now known as
Colonial and Native American Kecoughtan
Kecoughtan in Virginia was originally named Kikotan (also spelled Kiccowtan, Kikowtan), the name of the Algonquian Native Americans living there when colonists led by Captain John Smith arrived in the Hampton Roads area in 1607.
According to
The Kecoughtan village was where Captain John Smith and his group of settlers received their first welcome in 1607. The tribe remained generally friendly to them until the summer of 1609, when president
The colonists then built
On the same date in 1610, the Elizabeth City Parish was founded. The area and the parish has since been continuously occupied. Renamed St. John's Episcopal Church in 1830, the parish is the oldest English-speaking parish in the US today. The current church, constructed in 1728, is the fourth built for the parish.[2]
Kecoughtan became part of
Through Fort Algernon and the Kecoughtan settlement, Hampton can claim to be the oldest continually occupied English-speaking settlement in the United States, by virtue of Jamestown (which usually claims this distinction) having been abandoned for two days in June 1610,[3] and also because after 1698, when the capital of the Virginia colony and the parish seat moved from James town to Williamsburg, the buildings at Jamestown, including the church, were abandoned.[4][5]
Town of Kecoughtan (20th century)
In an area immediately to the southwest of the original settlement, the incorporated town of Kecoughtan was formed on January 1, 1916, within Elizabeth City County. It was located between Salters Creek and Hampton Roads and was developed by the Newport News, Hampton, and Old Point Development Company.[6] The major business located in the town was Elizabeth Buxton Hospital. It was served by Woodrow Wilson School and a town hall and firestation.[7]
Eleven years later it was annexed by the independent city of Newport News on January 1, 1927. At that time the town's population was 1,198 and the total length of its streets five miles.[8] The hard surface roadway connecting the area to the city of Hampton opened in 1910 and was named Kecoughtan Road for the town. It was incorporated into US Route 60.[9]
See also
- Former counties, cities, and towns of Virginia
References
- ^ Rountree 1990, p. 54.
- ISBN 978-0-87517-135-7.
- ^ "Death at Jamestown". Secrets of the Dead. PBS. 28 May 2014. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
- ^ Brydon, George Maclaren (1947). Virginia's Mother Church and the Political Conditions Under Which It Grew (PDF). Richmond, Virginia: Virginia Historical Society. p. 571.
- ^ Litterst, Michael; Calhoun, Tina. "History of Jamestown". National Park Service. Retrieved 2009-10-06.
- ^ "2011.22.741 - Town of Kecoughtan company land | Hampton History Museum". hampton.pastperfectonline.com. Retrieved 2022-08-15.
- ^ Bains, David R. (2022-08-17). "Town of Kecoughtan, Virginia". Chasing Churches. Retrieved 2022-08-17.
- Newport News. 1996. p. 108.
- ^ Bains, David R. (2020-12-09). "Five Churches and Two Cemeteries in Wythe: The Making of A Church Historian (Hampton, Virginia)". Chasing Churches. Retrieved 2022-08-12.