Strong Military Presence, Location Drive Hampton Roads Economy

Located in southeastern Virginia, Hampton Roads is one of the world’s
biggest and deepest natural harbors and home to the world’s largest
naval base at Norfolk.

Here, centuries of history intersect with modern technology, economic growth, livable communities — rural, suburban and urban — a rich culture, a thriving maritime industry and a strong military presence.

In 1607, English explorers on three tiny ships landed at what is today
Hampton Roads. They created the first permanent English settlement
and the first representative government in America. And, this is where
Africans first arrived and first sought freedom.

The region’s early 17th century settlers who named the area Hampton
Roads knew the harbor as Southampton’s Roadstead. Hampton was
used in honor of the Earl of Southampton, a major investor of the
Jamestown settlers, and “Roadstead” is an old English word for a
protected harbor.

Hampton Roads is home to the world’s largest shipyard in Newport
News and one of the busiest and fastest growing ports on the Eastern
Seaboard, the Port of Virginia. The harbor flows into the Chesapeake
Bay, the nation’s largest estuary, whose watershed covers 64,000
square miles and all or part of six states and Washington, D.C.

Located within 750 miles of two-thirds of the population of America,
Hampton Roads’ location at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay has long
defined the economy and the culture, but it also creates unique
challenges. While the many waterways contribute to commerce and
the quality of life, they also create logistical barriers.

Hampton Roads highways include an intricate system of nearly a dozen
bridges, tunnels and ferries including the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel,
a four-lane 20-mile-long vehicular toll crossing and the only direct link
between Virginia’s Eastern Shore and South Hampton Roads. Many of
these bridge and tunnel connections are major choke points, since no
new construction to address congestion has occurred since 1992.

With a population of over 1.6 million, Hampton Roads is among the top
35 largest metropolitan statistical areas, the fifth largest MSA in the
Southeast and the largest between D.C. and Atlanta.

But unlike many metropolitan areas, Hampton Roads’ population nucleus
is not confined to one central city, instead spread among several cities
and counties, including Virginia Beach, the largest in population, and
Suffolk, the largest in land area in Virginia.

The area is representative of Patchwork Nation’s Military Bastion
community — counties that are home to or located near military bases.
The U.S. military defense began here and now nearly one-fourth of the
nation’s active-duty military personnel are stationed in Hampton Roads.

All five military services’ operating forces and major command
headquarters, including the Navy, Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, and
Marines Joint Forces and the only NATO command on U.S. soil call
Hampton Roads home.

Hampton Roads has an educated workforce thanks, in part to its close
proximity to D.C., 15,000 military retirees annually, 12 institutions of
higher learning such as the College of William & Mary, Hampton, Norfolk
State and Old Dominion Universities. It also enjoys a lower
unemployment rate relative to the rest of the nation because of the
strong military presence.

However, the economic base is currently shifting away from almost
complete dependence on military installations and moving toward a
diverse mix of industries, including shipping, defense-related industry,
technology — including modeling and simulation — tourism, service,
manufacturing and agriculture. It is also the home of six federal research
labs.

Hampton Roads is responding to these challenges by reinvigorating the
pioneering spirit of the settlers, to forge a future that will make
“America’s First Region” one of its strongest economic centers.

– By Missy Schmidt, Hampton Roads Partnership, SmartRegion.org

From the Hampton Roads, Virginia Community Profile on Patchwork Nation

Thanks to the work of a few dozen creative spirits in Hampton Roads who developed this profile.

Read more: The full Press Release about SmartRegion.org and Patchwork Nation

Read more:  A virtual tour of the Patchwork Nation site