Located on the Atlantic Ocean
and Chesapeake Bay, Virginia Beach borders North Carolina and ranks as the
largest city in Virginia.
This
major East Coast resort city welcomes college students and other travelers
with a scenic boardwalk bustling with ice-cream shops, fast-food outlets,
nightclubs, and places to rent water-sports equipment. There are excellent
beaches north of town and thousands of hotel and motel rooms to suit every
budget.
Visit
the landing site where the first colonists touched shore, enjoy an IMAX
theatre presentation, explore a nature trail and hundreds of interactive
exhibits at the Virginia Marine Science Museum, and experience various
marine habitats. In winter, the museum organizes trips to see the humpback
whales that congregate off the coast.
Nearby,
Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge and First Landing State Park are excellent
places to ride bicycles, observe the migrating waterfowl, and explore
coastal dunes.
On
April 26th 1607 Admiral Christopher Newport set a landing party ashore at
the present site of Virginia Beach. Fearing the area was too
susceptible to attack from the native people and the Spanish, Admiral
Newport chose a small island on the James River (Jamestown) on which to
establish the first permanent English Colony in the new world.
Fourteen years later, some of the colonists returned to the original landing
site and settled in the area that is now Virginia Beach.
Abundant
fishing and fertile soil assured the area's success. In the late
1800s, Virginia Beach developed as a resort following construction of a
hotel and a railroad linking it with Norfolk. After World War I it became an
important base in the national coastal-defense system and today is home to
Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base, Oceana Naval Air Station, and Fleet
Combat Direction Systems Warfare Training Center at Dam Neck.
With
its excellent beaches and many fine hotels, Virginia Beach is one of the
most popular resort destinations on the east coast and one of the fastest
growing cities in the United States.
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