Sewell's Point - Boundaries Determined By Weather

Boundaries Determined By Weather

Although Hampton Roads represents a sheltered area from the tempests of both the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, the area’s shorelines change with extreme weather. At one time, apparently since English settlement began at Jamestown in 1607, Willoughby Bay did not border Sewells Point to the north, since it didn't even exist yet.

The area known as Willoughby takes its name from Thomas Willoughby, who came to Virginia in 1610 and received a land grant around 1625. Willoughby's son, Thomas II, was living there in the 1660s. According to local legend, his wife awoke one morning following a terrific storm (possibly the "Harry Cane" of 1667) to see a point of land in front her home, where there had been only water the night before. The Willoughby family, it is said, were quick to apply for an addendum to the original land grant, giving them ownership of the "new" property.

Severe storms and hurricanes would continue to transform the contour of the coast, and the Willoughby holdings, for more than a century. Although official records of Hampton Roads weather go back only to 1871 when the National Weather Service office was established in downtown Norfolk, records of earlier storms have been located in ships' logs, newspaper accounts, history books and writings of early settlers.

Residents of coastal Virginia in the colonial period (1607–1776) were very much aware of the weather. To people who lived near the water and derived much of their livelihood from the sea, a tropical storm was a noteworthy event. During a hurricane in 1749, the Chesapeake Bay rose 15 feet (4.6 m) above normal, sand spit was washed up at Sewells Point. With the help of the Great Coastal Hurricane of 1806, Willoughby Spit was formed. The area of water now located between Sewells Point and Willoughby Spit became known as Willoughby Bay.