Hampton Roads

This is the rural Hampton Roads — the colonial-history counties on the north and south sides of the James River estuary, distinct from the Virginia Beach and Norfolk independent cities that share the Hampton Roads name. The terrain is low and wet: tidewater forest, peanut and cotton fields inland, and Pamunkey and York River creeks cutting through the upper end. Eight counties cover the region. James City holds Williamsburg and the bulk of Colonial Williamsburg; York holds Yorktown at the river’s mouth; Surry sits across the James and reaches the Jamestown ferry; Isle of Wight holds Smithfield and its 17th-century Old Brick Church; Charles City and New Kent run upriver toward Richmond and hold the early James River plantations; Southampton and Sussex carry the corridor south toward the North Carolina line. Trips here center on the Historic Triangle — Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown linked by the Colonial Parkway — with Smithfield’s preserved historic district and the plantation drive along Route 5 as quieter add-ons. Spring and fall are the comfortable seasons, and the region is an easy day’s drive out of Richmond, the Virginia Beach metro, or the urban Hampton Roads core.