Location: East side of US-17, at the border between Newport News and York County, just S of Commerce Cir, Yorktown, VA 23693

Visited: July 4, 2009, 10:45am

Transcription of marker:

York County side:

York County

Area 136 square miles

One of the eight original shires formed in 1634. First called Charles River, which was named for King Charles I. The name was changed in 1643 to York for Yorkshire, England. Cornwallis’s surrender, October 19, 1781, took place at Yorktown.

Warwick County side:

Warwick County

Area 69 square miles

One of the original shires formed in 1634, it was given the name of Warwick River. The river itself was named for the Earl of Warwick.

My impressions: So this is the second time today that we found a state historical marker at the border of a city. This is from the Z series of markers (from the letter in their alphanumeric code). These are double-sided markers, placed at borders of counties with information on both jurisdictions. This one is not found in the current edition of the marker book. If I had to guess, I might guess that it’s because Warwick County doesn’t exist any longer. In 1958, in consolidated with the City of Newport News.

I also found it interesting that the letters were larger on the Warwick County side than the York County side. It was obviously an adjustment made to ensure that both sides were filled, given that the York County side has more text on it.

There was a small piece of interesting history I found in the Wikipedia article on the former County. In 1949, Newport News attempted to annex the county. Warwick County was able to fend it off by ceding 4 square miles to York County, which Wikipedia calls “a clever legal maneuver which was seen as a narrowly-won technical victory.” In 1952, the county successfully petitioned the General Assembly to become an independent city (since Virginia’s independent city status guarantees that land can’t be annexed by adjacent communities). Without the threat of annexation, negotiations on annexation continued and six years later, the voters of both cities (Warwick and Newport News) approved consolidation in a referendum.

Markeroni status: Logged.