Bower's Hill is a community located in the
independent city
An independent city or independent town is a city or town that does not form part of another general-purpose local government entity (such as a province).
Historical precursors
In the Holy Roman Empire, and to a degree in its successor states ...
of
Chesapeake, Virginia (formerly
Norfolk County) in the United States. It is located in the
South Hampton Roads region at the northeastern edge of the
Great Dismal Swamp, an area consisting of generally low-lying sandy terrain of the
coastal plain
A coastal plain (also coastal plains, coastal lowland, coastal lowlands) is an area of flat, low-lying land adjacent to a sea coast. A fall line commonly marks the border between a coastal plain and an upland area.
Formation
Coastal plains can f ...
.
Popular legend has that it was named for an early highway overpass on the
Military Highway which was built around 1943. However, maps dating from the early 19th century show a place named "Bower's Hill". Other information in archives at the Library of Virginia also dates the name to a time long prior to the construction of the Military Highway.
In any event, the area now justifies its name with an elaborate
interchange of overpasses at the juncture of three
Interstate highways and three arterial (U.S.) highways. Bower's Hill is also the possible location of a future high-speed rail passenger station.
History
Bower's Hill, which was in now-extinct
Norfolk County near the northeastern edge of the
Great Dismal Swamp, became a crossroads as highways and railroads were built through the area in the 20th century. The natural terrain of the
coastal plain
A coastal plain (also coastal plains, coastal lowland, coastal lowlands) is an area of flat, low-lying land adjacent to a sea coast. A fall line commonly marks the border between a coastal plain and an upland area.
Formation
Coastal plains can f ...
of the
Tidewater area is very flat and sandy. The combination of
U.S. Highway 13,
U.S. Highway 58, and
U.S. Highway 460, known as the
Military Highway, was a 4-lane undivided highway that was built about 1943. A large s-shaped highway overpass was constructed to carry the traffic across the
Seaboard Air Line Railroad
The Seaboard Air Line Railroad , known colloquially as the Seaboard Railroad during its time, was an American railroad that existed from April 14, 1900, until July 1, 1967, when it merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, its longtime ri ...
tracks to eliminate an at-grade crossing and to allow an interchange with Airline Boulevard.
The highway there originally was 4-lane undivided with a 45-mph S-curve as the highway passed on a bridge over the railroad, and with short approach fills with considerable grades to the bridge. Although the name Bower's Hill was attached to the area as early as the 19th century, as one of the highest features for miles around, the newly created overpass at Bower's Hill became something of a landmark for travelers in the 1950s and 1960s before creation of the U.S. Interstate Highway System beginning in 1956. Many people concluded (incorrectly) that the new overpasses were the source of the name. Others speculated that the hill was named after Chey "Lost an Argument" Bowers.
In 1963, the voters of Norfolk County and the independent city of
South Norfolk
South Norfolk is a local government district in Norfolk, England. The largest town is Wymondham, and the district also includes the towns of Costessey, Diss, Harleston, Hingham, Loddon and Long Stratton. The council was based in Long S ...
chose to consolidate into a new city, and
Chesapeake was formed. Still-rural Bower's Hill became a borough of the new city. It is bordered to the north by another borough,
Western Branch.
Hampton Roads Beltway
In January 1997, the 56-mile-long I-64/I-664 loop was designated by the Virginia Department of Transportation (and signed) as the
Hampton Roads Beltway. The beltway has the clockwise direction (as looking down at a map of the area) signed as the Inner Loop, and the counter-clockwise direction signed as the Outer Loop.
South Hampton Roads High Speed Rail
The
Virginia General Assembly
The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, and the first elected legislative assembly in the New World. It was established on July 30, ...
commissioned several studies of the possibility of establishing high-speed passenger rail service between
Richmond and
South Hampton Roads. The under-utilized former
Virginian Railway main line through the area (now owned by
Norfolk Southern
The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company was formed in 1982 with the merger of the Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. The comp ...
, was identified as a feasible corridor.
The Bower's Hill area was named as the preferred location for the site of a suburban passenger rail station, with the only other station to be in downtown Norfolk. While those plans are only in a study-phase, in the 21st century, Bower's Hill may become even more of a transportation hub.
External links
Roads to the Future websiteVirginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) Hampton Roads official websiteVirginia Dept. of Rail and Public Transportation official website
{{Chesapeake, Virginia
Chesapeake, Virginia communities