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Newport News

Newport News is a Virginia historical marker in Newport News County, dedicated 2001.

Newport News County · dedicated 2001 · Newport News city park visitor center on Constitution Way

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The area was first referred to as "Newportes Newes" as early as 1619, and the first known English settler lived here in 1621. Several Civil War engagements took place here including the Battle of the Ironclads and the 1862 Peninsula Campaign. Newport News remained a small community until the late 19th century when it became the eastern terminus of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Co. The Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. was founded here in 1886. Newport News was established as a town in 1880 and became a city in 1896. It served as the headquarters of the Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation in World Wars I and II.

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

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under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s

what this marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years here

From one family's 77-marker roster

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