In the 1600s English Settlers looked at the Peninsula as a place of wonder and opportunities. Virginia residents today look at the Peninsula in the same way.

The first permanent English Colony in America was established here at Jamestown in 1607 by a group of investors who hoped to make a profit from the resources of America. The General Assembly, Virginia's governing body and the oldest legislature in the Western World, first convened in 1619 at Jamestown. Later, the capitol was moved eight miles inland to Williamsburg. British General Lord Cornwallis surrendered to American General George Washington at Yorktown in 1781, ending the War for Independence.

From the few dozen settlers more than 375 years ago, the Peninsula has become home to more than 500,000 people. Peninsula business is diverse.

People here make a living by commercial fishing, building submarines and aircraft carriers, piloting aircraft at nearby Air Force and Navy installations, pioneering 21st-Century space and aviation technology at NASA-Langley, assemble computers at Gateway and copy machines at Canon, and by working in retail, service and manufacturing industries. Students have choices of William & Mary College, Christopher Newport and Hampton Universities.

The Virginia Peninsula is located in the extreme southeastern corner of the state. The surrounding waters of the James and York Rivers, Hampton Roads (site of the famous battle of the "ironclads", Monitor and Merrimac) and the Chesapeake Bay continually knit together the Peninsula communities of Newport News, Hampton, Poquoson, Williamsburg and the counties of York and James City.

Our communities are united in developing industries, improving schools and encouraging local, regional and national arts and culture. Recreational opportunities also abound. The Peninsula is home to the largest municipal park in America, twenty golf courses, tennis centers, beaches and fishing piers and marinas filled with every type of watercraft. Newcomers quickly become a part of this vibrant area, rich in heritage and full of goals to be the best. "Quality of Life" is almost a creed for our Peninsula communities. WELCOME.