Merrimack Trail

Merrimack Trail

Merrimack Trail is the local name for State Route 143 as it passes through portions of York County and James City County and the independent city of Williamsburg in the Virginia Peninsula subregion of Hampton Roads in Virginia.

History

With the Restoration and additional tourism traffic generated by Colonial Williamsburg beginning in the late 1920s, Merrimack Trail was built in the early 1930s to supplement U.S. Route 60 as part the State Route 168 project which extended all the way east to North Carolina.

The Merrimack Trail portion of VA-168 extended on the Virginia Peninsula from Anderson Corner near Toano to a crossing of Hampton Roads to South Hampton Roads by ferry, prior to the opening of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel on November 1, 1957. The ferry, which connected to Norfolk at the end of 99th Street at Pine Beach, charged a toll of automobile and driver, $1 and $1.25 for each additional passenger.[1]

The name originated because the road lead to a ferry landing in Newport News was located near the historic location of the Battle of Hampton Roads between the ironclad warships in March 1862 during the American Civil War. The Confederate ironclad C.S.S. Virginia had been built from the hull of the U.S.S. Merrimack, partially burned by Union troops evacuating the Norfolk Naval Shipyard the previous year.

In the 1960s, as the new Interstate 64 was completed, major portions of VA-168 west of Old Point Comfort were redesignated as State Route 143.

References

  1. ^ http://xroads.virginia.edu/~Hyper/VAGuide/hampton2.html

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Mount Kearsarge (Merrimack County, New Hampshire) — This article is about the mountain in Wilmot and Warner, New Hampshire. For the mountain of the same name near North Conway, New Hampshire, see Mount Kearsarge (Carroll County, New Hampshire). For other uses, see Kearsarge (disambiguation). Mount …   Wikipedia

  • Bay Circuit Trail — Infobox Hiking trail Name= Bay Circuit Trail Photo= Caption= Location= Plymouth County, Middlesex County, eastern Worcester County, and Essex County, Massachusetts Designation= Length= convert|200|mi|km|abbr=on Use= Primarily hiking. ElevChange=… …   Wikipedia

  • Northern Rail Trail (New Hampshire) — The Northern Rail Trail crossing the Mascoma River between Enfield and Canaan, NH The Northern Rail Trail is a multi use rail trail in western New Hampshire, currently 23 miles (37 km) in length from Lebanon to Grafton. Another section runs… …   Wikipedia

  • Midstate Trail (Massachusetts) — This article is about the Midstate Trail of Massachusetts. For other trails named Midstate or Mid State, see Midstate Trail (disambiguation). Midstate Trail (Massachusetts) View from the Midstate Trail on Mount Watatic Length 92 miles… …   Wikipedia

  • Colonial Williamsburg — Williamsburg Historic District U.S. National Register of Historic Places U.S. National Historic Landmark District …   Wikipedia

  • James City County, Virginia — Seal …   Wikipedia

  • Virginia State Route 168 — State Route 168 Route information Maintained by VDOT Length: 30.11 mi …   Wikipedia

  • Virginia State Route 143 — Infobox road state=VA type= route=143 length mi=35 length ref=Fact|date=February 2007 length round=0 established=mid 1940s direction a=West direction b=East starting terminus= junction= ending terminus= previous type= previous route=142 next type …   Wikipedia

  • Grove, Virginia — Grove (also known locally as the Grove Community) is an unincorporated community in the southeastern portion of James City County in the Peninsula subregion of the Hampton Roads region of Virginia in the United States. Grove is located along a… …   Wikipedia

  • Kiskiack — (or Chisiack or Chiskiack) was a Native American tribal group of the Powhatan Confederacy. The name means Wide Land or Bread Place in the native language, one of the Virginia Algonquian languages. It was also the name of their village on the… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”