1907 Map of Hampton

About this map

Big Bethel Battlefield and the surrounding coastal necks of the Virginia Peninsula are preserved here in a 1907 survey reprinted during the early 1930s. The landscape reflects a mix of military history and early 20th-century institutional growth, anchored by Fort Monroe at Old Point Comfort and the expanding Langley Field near Tabbs Creek. The map documents numerous vanished local landmarks and family-named landings, from Amorys Wharf to the Hampton Normal School and its associated Hampton Normal School Farm. Transportation is defined by a dense network of country roads like Yorktown Road and the specialized Hampton and Old Point Electric RR. Between the Poquoson River and the James River, the map captures a period when small communities like Messick, Odd, and Tampico were still primarily connected by tide-water creeks and light rail before the massive suburban expansion of the later century.