The Olde Wythe neighborhood of Hampton, Virginia, lies along the water’s edge of Hampton Roads, at the end of Virginia’s Lower Peninsula. Hampton, settled in 1610, is the oldest continuously inhabited English-speaking city in the United States. At one time, Wythe was part of rural Elizabeth City County, one of the first eight Colonial Virginia counties, whose seat was Hampton. The Civil War Battle of the Ironclads happened right off Wythe’s shores. Newport News’s railroads and shipyard and Hampton’s seafood industries and military installations fueled growth in the Lower Peninsula from 1880 through World War II. Residential development began in Wythe in the 20th century with the streetcar and continued through the social and business heyday of the 1950s. Today it is a neighborhood of charming architecture, lovely waterside views, and a promising future as new generations take up the challenge of preserving a rich heritage.
