Lee Hall, Virginia | |
|---|---|
 Lee Hall in December 2007 | |
 Location in the State ofVirginia | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Virginia |
| Established | 1881 |
Lee Hall is a community located in the extreme northern portion of theindependent city ofNewport News in theCommonwealth of Virginia in theUnited States.
Lee Hall, located in the formerWarwick County, was named for nearbyLee Hall Mansion which was built in 1859 as the home ofRichard Decatur Lee, a prominent local farmer who was not directly related to the famous Confederate GeneralRobert E. Lee. The mansion was used as headquarters forConfederate generalsJoseph E. Johnston andJohn B. Magruder during thePeninsula Campaign of theAmerican Civil War in 1862. Nearby isEndview Plantation, a 238-year-old house. Endview was used as a hospital during the Civil War and as a campground during theRevolutionary War, theWar of 1812 and the Civil War.
Lee Hall Depot was arailroad station on the Peninsula Extension of theChesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O), which was built through the area ofWarwick County in 1881 to reach the newcoal export facilities at Newport News on the port ofHampton Roads. On October 19, 1881, the first passenger train from Newport News took local residents and national officials to theCornwallis Surrender Centennial Celebration atYorktown on temporary tracks which were laid from Lee Hall Depot. TheBoxwood Inn was built in 1897.
Lee Hall Depot became a very busy railroad station after the establishment nearby ofFort Eustis (originally named Camp Abraham Eustis) in 1918, with freight and heavy troop movements. the busy activity resumed duringWorld War II. It was expanded to accommodate this role. East of Lee Hall, a rail spur leads to the base, where theFort Eustis Military Railroad operated.
With the coming of the automobile as a common form of travel in the early 20th century, attention was directed to improving roads. As part of theGood Roads Movement, the new road which becameU.S. Route 60 was routed fromWilliamsburg throughGrove, bridgingSkiffe's Creek as it enteredWarwick County to reach Lee Hall. This routing was chosen rather than following a competing route viaHalstead's Point in York County (now on the base of the USNaval Weapons Station Yorktown just northeast of the gate on VA-143).
Earlier, the east–west road which became U.S. 60 wasState Route 9. SR 9 was renumbered asState Route 39 in 1923, and became U.S. 60 in the mid-1920s when it was routed through Grove. A large ceremony hosted by Warwick County treasurer and civic leader Simon Curtis was held at the Lee Hall Depot in 1924 to celebrate the completion of first hard-surfaced roadway (concrete) between Newport News and Williamsburg.
Two-laned U.S. 60 continues to form the main thoroughfare through the largely residential and neighborhood business section of Grove and Lee Hall, paralleling four-lanedState Route 143 andInterstate 64. The village portion of Lee Hall is connected to I-64 viaState Route 238 (Yorktown Road).
Although Warwick County became a city in 1952 and then was consolidated with Newport News in 1958, in the half century since, the Lee Hall area has retained a rural atmosphere, partially due to the proximity of the expansiveNewport News Park and Newport News Reservoir along the formerWarwick River and nearbySkiffe's Creek.
The 26th Balloon Company of the US Army Air Corps had a training school at Lee Hall at least during the summer of 1920 training soldiers for deployment to central and South America service.[1]
In the 21st century,Lee Hall Depot (no longer in use) is the only surviving C&O structure of its type on theLower Peninsula. It is the only survivor among five stations which were located in Warwick County, the others formerly located at Oriana, Oyster Point,Morrison, and Newport News. The historic 2-story depot was relocated 165 feet to the north of the busyCSX Transportation railroad tracks in 2009, and reopened as a museum in 2021. The adjacent historic area as has been restored and developed as Lee Hall Village. Across the street from the Depot, theBoxwood Inn, abed and breakfast establishment in an 1896 house, is open and available for overnight visitors and some meals. The city's tourism agency operates several other attractions at Lee Hall Mansion and Endview Plantation, as well as nearby civil war historical sites.
The Lee Hall community is served by exit 247 ofInterstate 64. About 1 block from the historic railroad station,U.S. Route 60 andState Route 238 intersect.
Lee Hall is served by bothHampton Roads Transit (HRT) andWilliamsburg Area Transit Authority (WATA).
37°11′31″N76°34′18″W / 37.19194°N 76.57167°W /37.19194; -76.57167
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