Wythe is a neighborhood

Neighbourhood

A neighbourhood or neighborhood is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town or suburb. Neighbourhoods are often social communities with considerable face-to-face interaction among members. "Researchers have not agreed on an exact definition...

 in Hampton, Virginia

Hampton, Virginia

Hampton is an independent city that is not part of any county in Southeast Virginia. Its population is 137,436. As one of the seven major cities that compose the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, it is on the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula. Located on the Hampton Roads Beltway, it hosts...

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The Wythe neighborhood is named after one of the original signers of the United States Declaration of Independence

United States Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence was a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. John Adams put forth a...

, George Wythe

George Wythe

George Wythe was an American lawyer, a judge, a prominent law professor and "Virginia's foremost classical scholar." He was a teacher and mentor of Thomas Jefferson. Wythe's signature is positioned at the head of the list of seven Virginia signatories on the United States Declaration of Independence...

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The oldest historic portion of the Wythe neighborhood in Hampton, Va is called Olde Wythe.

Olde Wythe

The Olde Wythe neighborhood of Hampton, Virginia, lies along the waters edge of Hampton Roads

Hampton Roads

Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...

, at the end of Virginia's Lower Peninsula. Hampton settled in 1610, is the oldest continuously inhabited English-speaking city in the United States. At one time, Wythe was part of rural Elizabeth City County

Elizabeth City County, Virginia

Elizabeth City County was a county in southeastern Virginia from 1634 to 1952. Originally created in 1634 as Elizabeth River Shire, it was one of eight shires created in the Virginia Colony by order of the King of England. In 1636, it was subdivided, and the portion north of the harbor of Hampton...

, one of the first eight Colonial Virginia counties, whose seat was Hampton. The Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

 Battle of the Ironclads

Battle of Hampton Roads

The Battle of Hampton Roads, often referred to as either the Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack or the Battle of Ironclads, was the most noted and arguably most important naval battle of the American Civil War from the standpoint of the development of navies...

happened right off Wythe's shores. Newport News railroads and shipyard and Hampton Seafood industries and military installations fueled growth in the Lower Peninsula from 1880 through World War II. Residential development began in Wythe in the 20th century with the streetcar and continued through the social and business heyday of the 1950s. Today it is a neighborhood of charming architecture, lovely waterside views, and a promising future as new generations take up the challenge of preserving a rich heritage.