Newport Real Estate Homes & Condos

Warwick River, Skiffs Creek, and Waters Creek in Newport News are some of the waterways where Colonists once built their homesteads. Not long after Jamestown was established, Newport News, Virginia was settled by these early English people. The first time Newport News Point was referred to as a geological feature was back in 1619. However, Virginia Governor Sir George Yeardley patented 1,000 acres on Mulberry Island just a year prior.

Mulberry Island bustled with activity in Colonial times because of the developments Captain Samuel Mathews lead. An early Warwick planter, he was the one who developed the Mathews Manor in the 1620’s. The manor was built where the Warwick River and Deep Creek conjoined. It carried on successfully, drawing the attention of wheat planters and tobacco farmers from England. Tobacco farming turned out to be not-so-good for the area, though. The population in Warwick County dropped after the American Revolutionary because the land’s fertility was jeopardized by tobacco farming. During the Civil War, Newport News Point was heavily utilized. Two defensive lines were built by the Confederates, one at Warwick River and one at Young’s Mill. In fact, two important battles of the Civil War happened here. The U.S.S Monitor and C.S.S. Virginia clashed here on March 8 & 9 in 1862. This was the first time two ironclad ships came head to head. The second battle happened between April 5 and May 3 in that same year; The Peninsula Campaign’s Warwick-Yorktown Siege.

Newport News continued to play vital roles in military activities during Spanish-American War and both World Wars. This was possible because of the railroad and shipyard that Collis P. Huntington built in the 1880’s, which continued to expand and grow. The shipyard was originally viewed as a district found in Warwick County. But in 1896 it became an independent city. The modern day Newport News that we know today was formed in 1958 when The City of Warwick and The City of Newport News were combined.