New Point Comfort is a point of land located in

Mathews County Mathews County is a county located in the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 8,533. Its county seat is Mathews. Located on the Middle Peninsula, Mathews County is included in the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport ...

at the tip of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

Middle Peninsula The Middle Peninsula is the second of three large peninsulas on the western shore of Chesapeake Bay in Virginia, in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the Middle Peninsula was home to 92,886 people. It lies between the Northern Neck and ...

in the lower

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It is the site of the

New Point Comfort Natural Area Preserve New Point Comfort Natural Area Preserve is a Natural Area Preserve located in Mathews County, Virginia. The point is situated on Chesapeake Bay along the Atlantic Flyway, and consequently provides habitat for nesting and breeding birds, both d ...

and the New Point Comfort Light.

Geography

The tip New Point Comfort is now on an island separated from the mainland of Mathews County south of the unincorporated town of Bavon at the mouth of

Mobjack Bay Mobjack Bay is a bay on the western shore of Chesapeake Bay in Virginia in the United States. It lies between the Rappahannock River on the north and the York River on the south. The bay appears in early documents as "Mockjack Bay"; it was said tha ...

. It is north of

Old Point Comfort Old Point Comfort is a point of land located in the independent city of Hampton, Virginia. Previously known as Point Comfort, it lies at the extreme tip of the Virginia Peninsula at the mouth of Hampton Roads in the United States. It was renamed ...

Phoebus Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

Hampton Hampton may refer to: Places Australia *Hampton bioregion, an IBRA biogeographic region in Western Australia *Hampton, New South Wales *Hampton, Queensland, a town in the Toowoomba Region *Hampton, Victoria Canada *Hampton, New Brunswick *Hamp ...

. The

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...

to the north of the point, from Peppers Creek and Horn Harbor southward, is also called New Point Comfort.

History

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

John Smith passed by New Point Comfort in 1608 when returning to Jamestown from the northern Chesapeake Bay. The New Point Comfort Light was built from 1802–1805 and by 1852, it was partially cut off by the sea and formed a new island. In 1904, the New Point Comfort Development Company was formed to build a

resort A resort (North American English) is a self-contained commercial establishment that tries to provide most of a vacationer's wants, such as food, drink, swimming, lodging, sports, entertainment, and shopping, on the premises. The term ''resort ...

on the peninsula by

reclaiming In linguistics, reappropriation, reclamation, or resignification is the cultural process by which a group reclaims words or artifacts that were previously used in a way disparaging of that group. It is a specific form of a semantic change (i.e. ...

the

marsh A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...

that separated the lighthouse from the mainland and building

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...

es. However, the prohibitive cost doomed the project and the business went

bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debt ...

. In 1933, the Chesapeake Potomac Hurricane and the Outer Banks Hurricane definitively severed the lighthouse from the mainland and it now is about from shore on a small

riprap Riprap (in North American English), also known as rip rap, rip-rap, shot rock, rock armour (in British English) or rubble, is human-placed rock or other material used to protect shoreline structures against scour and water, wave, or ice erosion. ...

island.

External links

New Point Comfort Lighthouse Chesapeake Bay, VirginiaMap of New Point ComfortNew Point Comfort lighthouse
a
LighthouseFriends.com
Headlands of Virginia Virginia islands of the Chesapeake Bay Unincorporated communities in Virginia Geography of Mathews County, Virginia Landforms of Mathews County, Virginia Peninsulas of Virginia {{MathewsCountyVA-geo-stub