Ocean View, Virginia
Ocean View, Virginia is community in the independent city of Norfolk, Virginia in the United States. It has several miles of shoreline on the Chesapeake Bay to the north, and is bordered by Willoughby Spit on the west and the Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek on the east.
Shire to County to City
The entire area of South Hampton Roads was part of Elizabeth River Shire when it was formed in 1634. From this original shire (or county), in 1636, New Norfolk County was formed, which was divided again into Upper and Lower Norfolk counties in 1637. Lower Norfolk County was split in 1691 to form Princess Anne County and Norfolk County.
The Ocean View area was to remain part of Norfolk County for over 225 years, until it and the adjacent Willoughby Spit area were annexed by the independent City of Norfolk in 1923. (Virginia has had an independent city political subdivisions since 1871). A small portion of East Ocean View adjacent to the Little Creek Amphibious Base was added in a land-swap with the city of Virginia Beach in 1988.
The Ocean View area was surveyed and laid out with streets and lots as Ocean View City in 1854 by William Mahone, a young civil engineer who was building the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad. With the the advent of of electric streetcars in the late 19th century, an amusement park was developed at the end-of-the-line and a boardwalk was built along the adjacent beach area.
Completion of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel in 1957 connected the Ocean View area to the Virginia Peninsula. However, it and other newer highways encouraged visitors to continue on to the Virginia Beach resort area on the Atlantic Ocean, a small city which boomed after merging with Princess Anne County in 1963. After some years of decline, Ocean View Amusement Park was closed in the 1970s and was torn down after a movie was filmed which featured blowing up the landmark wooden roller coaster. As the entire coastal property market surged with new growth, redevelopment in the Ocean View community has resulted in new upscale residential properties replacing old beach cottages and small motels along the resort strip, and bayfront property has regained and exceeded its past values.
Today, U.S. Highway 60 is the main roadway paralleling the bay along the resort strip, and U.S. Highway 460 begins at its junction in front of the site of the former amusement park.
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This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.
Categories: 1911 Britannica | Virginia history | Virginia geography | Norfolk, Virginia