Willoughby Spit, it came from beneath the sea
HR Partnership | February 14, 2010
![]() |
|
Photo credit: VirginiaPlaces.org |
from Carson Hudson, Tidewater History Examiner
Thousands of commuters and tourists use the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel every day to travel between the cities of Hampton and Norfolk… and sometimes, when the tunnel backs up and comes to a standstill, they sit in their cars and wait for the traffic to move. But few realize that, on the Norfolk side, they are sitting on a thin stretch of sand that came from beneath the sea. It’s called Willoughby Spit and in the late seventeenth century it was initially formed by a hurricane.
![]() ![]() |
| Photos credit: SirFin on Panoramio.com |
The dictionary says that a “spit” is a long and narrow piece of beach that protrudes out into a body of water. Although the historical records disagree over whether it was 1667 or 1683, according to the generally accepted tale, Thomas Willoughby was living in the area when a “great storm” occurred. The next morning, his wife was apparently the first person to notice that a couple of hundred acres of sand had appeared out of nowhere, thrusting into the area known as Hampton Roads. The new slice of real estate became known as Willoughby Spit.
Over the years, other storms added to the spit and …





















































































