Naval Weapons Station Yorktown
Naval Weapons Station Yorktown | |
---|---|
Yorktown, Virginia | |
Type | naval base |
Site information | |
Controlled by | United States Navy |
Site history | |
Built | 1918, |
In use | 1918–present |
Naval Weapons Station Yorktown is a
Location
The Naval Weapons Station (NWS) Complex (including Cheatham Annex) is 20.7 square miles (54 km2) in area, roughly 1/5 of the total land area of York County, in which most of it lies; a small portion is within James City County.
The station is bounded on the northwest by the Naval Supply Center Cheatham Annex, the Virginia Emergency Fuel Farm, and land owned by the
The station borders the cities of Newport News and Williamsburg. It shares almost 14 miles (23 km) of the York River shoreline (about half of York County's York River shoreline and wetlands) with the National Park Service.
The large Camp Peary, which also has much York River frontage on the northern side of the Virginia Peninsula, is adjacent to the Naval Station.
History
The site of NWS Yorktown is rich in
The oldest structure at the Yorktown Naval Weapons Station is the brick "Kiskiack (Lee House)", built as a private residence in the late 17th century by English immigrant Henry Lee or his near descendants.[3] At that time, the owner of the farm likely cultivated tobacco for export. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Register. Descendants of the Lee family owned the property until its acquisition in 1918 by the federal government for the Navy Mine Depot.[3]
The colonial infantry of the American Revolutionary War and forces of the Civil War slogged along the Old Williamsburg Road that today runs through the station.
Around 1914, the
The Navy acquired the property to establish the Navy Mine Depot, Yorktown at this site.[4] The Navy planned to lay the North Sea Mine Barrage to protect commercial shipping and required an Atlantic Seaboard plant to support the effort. Here the mines would be stored, assembled, loaded, tested and issued to the Service. A related station was required for the training of personnel to adjust and operate the mines. The Navy selected the DuPont site, about 18 square miles (47 km2) of area near Yorktown, Virginia, as the best location on the East Coast for its mine activities. The Bureau of Ordnance of the Navy Department assumed possession one month later.
Yorktown was near the
To make way for the new Mine Depot, the government acquired by eminent domain the property of many landowners along the former Yorktown-Williamsburg Road in nearby Lackey, Virginia. Both landowners and tenants in this area were primarily African American. (Since the late 19th century, this area had been locally known as "the Reservation".) Assisted by self-educated farmer John Tack Roberts (born ca. 1860), many of the displaced residents of Lackey negotiated better financial compensation for their properties. Many relocated to the community of Grove in nearby James City County. Another small community, also named Lackey, was later developed along the Yorktown Road a few miles away.[5]
As many as 10,000 personnel worked at the Naval facility during
Current use
Over the years, the growth and expansion of the Navy's technical requirements and responsibilities have been reflected by corresponding developments at the station to support the Atlantic Fleet and CFFC.
As part of the Navy’s Mid-Atlantic installation consolidation, Cheatham Annex, formerly an annex of the Fleet Industrial Supply Center, Norfolk, was incorporated with the station on October 1, 1998. This area of land, located in the Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown area known as the Historic Triangle of Colonial Virginia, was acquired by the Navy on June 21, 1943. Cheatham Annex includes the former site of the "lost town" of Penniman, Virginia.
Naval Weapons Station Yorktown hosts 25 tenant commands which include the
The station and tenant commands work together to provide ordnance logistics, technical, supply and related services to Fleet Forces Command and its ships. Today the station is a hub of activity. As one of the Navy's "explosive corridors" to the sea, supply, amphibious and combatant ships may be seen arriving and departing the station's two piers.
See also
References
- ^ THE ATSDR PUBLIC HEALTH ASSESSMENT
- ^ http://archive.orr.noaa.gov/book_shelf/427_Yorktown.pdf Archived 2013-03-05 at the Wayback Machine NOAA map
- ^ a b Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission Staff (August 1969). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Kiskiack" (PDF). Virginia Department of Historic Resources. and Accompanying photo
- ^ Naval Weapons Station (NAVWPNSTA), Yorktown, Virginia
- ^ Bradley M. McDonald, Kenneth E. Stuck, Kathleen J. Bragdon. 'Cast Down Your Bucket Where You Are': An Ethnohistorical Study of the African-American Community on the Lands of the Yorktown Naval Weapons Station, 1865-1918, [Williamsburg, Va.] : The Center, [1992], full text online at HathiTrust
- McCartney, Martha W. (1977) James City County: Keystone of the Commonwealth; James City County, Virginia; Donning and Company; ISBN 0-89865-999-X
External links
- NWS Yorktown
- NWS Yorktown Installation Overview from NavyUSA.org
- Bradley M. McDonald, Kenneth E. Stuck, Kathleen J. Bragdon. 'Cast Down Your Bucket Where You Are': An Ethnohistorical Study of the African-American Community on the Lands of the Yorktown Naval Weapons Station, 1865-1918, [Williamsburg, Va.] : The Center, [1992], full text online at HathiTrust