Where is "Tidewater" in Virginia?

All are correct. Cultural regions are defined in different ways by different people, and there is no official judge sitting in big chair at the front of a Federal Court of Regional Boundaries to make "official" decisions... However, to define the portion of Virginia that would be affected by the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act, the state defined "Tidewater Virginia" to include the following jurisdictions:

Even defining the edge of Hampton Roads can stimulate a geography debate. The Hampton Roads community is split into two major components, as represented by the location of the regional airports - one on the Peninsula at Newport News-Williamsburg, and one in Norfolk. If someone in that portion of Hampton Roads located south of the James River says they are going to the airport, you can generally assume that they are going to the Norfolk International Airport. Someone living in that portion of Hampton Roads north of the James River will probably use the Newport News-Williamsburg or Richmond airports.

The airports in Newport News-Williamsburg and Richmond are growing as the population in Hampton Roads increases. However, so long as the region has three small airports, Hampton Roads is unlikely to attract a carrier to offer nonstop flights to Europe. Southeast Virginia residents will have to keep going to Dulles or Raleigh-Durham airports to fly direct to London; the "international" in the names of southeast Virginia airports reflects the ability to reach other countries after stopping at another airport.

Another clue to the impact of the waterways fragmenting the population - there is no culturally-unifying professional sports team in the region. One source ¹ described the problem as follows: "Poor Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News, VA-NC, it's the largest metropolitan area (ranked 27th with a population of 1,542,143) in the U.S. without any professional sports teams in the four leagues. It's home to 500,000 more people than #45 Jacksonville yet it still lacks a team of its own."

Today, the distinction between the City of Hampton and the Hampton Roads region is not obvious to non-residents. On the state highway map, the political boundary lines blur in a sea of monotonous urban development - except for the Eastern Shore. That area is still undeveloped at the moment, in large part because the toll on the Chesapeake Bay-Bridge Tunnel discourages commuters from living in Northampton County.

urban Hampton Roads, as displayed on state highway map

urbanized Hampton Roads
Source: Virginia Department
of Transportation

Virginia's first colonists nearly starved to death, but soon after the winter of 1609-10 the colony became self-sufficient in food production. The first center of colonial agriculture was on the Peninsula and south of the James River.

The early colonists living south of the James River in southeastern Virginia raised wheat and made bread, using windmills to power the grindstones that converted the wheat into flour. They also raised hogs and cattle for sale to ship captains. The livestock yielded fresh meat that could be preserved with salt imported from Bermuda, the Bahamas, or nearby Caribbean islands.

In the 1600's and 1700's, Virginia farmers exported meat to Caribbean islands that were using their land to grow sugar cane (and thus needed to import food for the slaves and other residents of the islands). In what is now the City of Virginia Beach, the many "necks" between tidal creeks were used as pastures - and because water surrounded three sides of the necks, the labor and materials to build fences to enclose pastures were minimized. Even today, south of the "Green Line" that defines land use patterns, a substantial portion of the City of Virginia Beach is still productive farmland.

Back Creek and Chesapeake Bay in York County

necks in York County (Back Creek)
Source: National Atlas

The pattern of rivers and "necks" of land shaped the settlement of the region by Europeans.² The English considered the waterways to be a transportation bonus, not a barrier to travel. Ocean-going ships could sail far up the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, stopping at the wharves of different plantations to unload manufactured products from England and then load a return cargo of tobacco, deer hides, or even food.

In colonial Virginia, wharfs on almost every Tidewater farm were an international shipping terminal. Development of cities in the region was delayed until the population finally moved inland, away from the easy transportation available on so many peninsulas extending into deep waters of the Chesapeake Bay.

The residents of Portsmouth and Norfolk also depended upon shipbuilding and trade with England. At the time of the American Revolution, the largest commmunity in Virginia was Norfolk. Norfolk has been the state's primary port since the 1700's, though Hampton was settled earlier.

The loyalty of the white residents in Norfolk/Portsmouth to the "mother country" during the American Revolution was affected by economic ties to London and Glasgow. (Look at the 1790 population statistics in the Historical Census Browser to see the percentage of residents in Norfolk who were slaves. Which side do you think they would have supported, especially after Lord Dunmore's declaration proposing freedom for slaves?)

In April, 1775, Lord Dunmore (the last colonial governor) fled Williamsburg. He chose Norfolk as his primary base of resistance against the rebels, but was forced to abandon it after the Virginians burnt the town at the start of 1776.³ (The British completed the burning of the town, and that was added to the list of "outrages" justifying the American Revolution. It took over 100 years before the true role of the local Virginia rebels in torching their largest city was exposed...)

Today, the the Hampton Roads region still depends upon the Chesapeake Bay as its primary economic resource. Now, however, the region is taking advantage of deep river channels and protected harbors for the military, more than the opportunity to ship agricultural goods to Europe (or harvest protein from the water). The US Navy is the main employer in Hampton Roads. The Norfolk Navy Yard has been the primary economic stimulus for expansion in the area, affecting growth north of the James River as well as south. The growth led to Tidewater being the first Virginia region to support commercial broadcasting.⁴

After World War I, and especially in World War II and the Cold War, the Navy berthed more and more ships in the region. Today the Atlantic Command is located there, along with war games simulation facilities in Suffolk and Oceana Naval Air Station supporting the most modern jet fighters. Retired military also settle in the region. The diversity and international perspectives of the Navy personnel changed the politics of Virginia Beach. It was a bastion of the Byrd Machine in the 1940's and 1950's. A decade later, it supported issuing state bonds to end the pay-as-you-go financing constraints in order to build schools and roads.

A similar transformation occurred in Northern Virginia after World War II. Today the Northern Virginia region is labeled NOVA, and described in other cultural regions as an alien section unlike the rest of "real Virginia." Old Confederate sympathizers still refer to it, mostly in jest, as "occupied Virginia" because Alexandria was occupied by Yankees at the start of the Civil War. The Richmond Times-Dispatch refers derogatorily to "Novaville," when editorializing against "liberal" proposals that might increase state or taxes for transportation, schools, or other government services.

Tidewater faces fewer jibes, in part because the boundaries of Tidewater are so amorphous. It's like Los Angeles, with communities developed right against each other. If you drive down I-64 east of Williamsburg, it's very difficult to identify the boundaries of Newport News, Hampton, Norfolk, and Virginia Beach. You may see the signs to Poquoson... but how do you know you've reached it? And if you head west from Virginia Beach, the edges of Norfolk and Portsmouth and Chesapeake are no more obvious than what you saw driving east.

Where is "Tidewater" in Virginia?

Chesapeake Bay

"The Northern Neck" Is Not "The Peninsula"

Eastern Shore

References