Rural, Suburban, Urban

 

                                                                        Rural, Suburban, Urban

In the first half of the 20^th Century, the Virginia Peninsula consisted primarily of a couple of the two sea-front urban areas of Hampton and Newport News, smaller fishing communities in Phoebus and Poquoson, a couple of military bases, forests, swamps, and farmlands. The NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) consisted of a few buildings and wind tunnels located within Langley Air Force Base. However, by the end of World War II, the population had begun to grow, along with the necessary accompanying infrastructure. But it didn't just grow. It exploded.

The reasons for this rapid growth were multiple, but they were all related in some way to the friction between our nation and the communist nations of Russia, China, and the Southeast Asia bloc of leftist nations. That friction emphasized the need to maintain our military capabilities at a high level. The war had demonstrated the power of air warfare, and consequently both the air force and NACA received funding for infrastructure and for hiring and training new personnel. The emphasis on aerial warfare called for more aircraft carriers, and the jet powered planes required longer runways than propeller airplanes. The logical solution to this problem was long aircraft carriers. Newport News Shipbuilding became the sole builder of these monster warships within the United States. Then, because the shipyard had this nuclear capability it took over a large share of the nuclear submarine work.

And that was still not the end of it. When Russia shocked the world with the announcement that it had successfully launched Sputnik, the first orbital vehicle, the space race began. NASA was formed, NACA was absorbed into it, and Project Mercury – a manned space vehicle – was initiated. Its research and development team was centered at Langley's lab, and a launch facility was constructed at Wallops Island on Virginia's Eastern Shore. This space effort didn't replace the aeronautics work, which continued at a steady pace. The rapid growth of these activities brought with it the support industries: subcontractors, road and building construction, theaters, barbers, medical facilities, etc.

The natural consequence of this series of events was a tremendous influx of personnel into a narrow peninsula, bordered on the northern side by the York river, the south side by the James river, and the end by the Chesapeake Bay. The most viable direction of expansion was up the peninsula toward Williamsburg. When Newport News absorbed the City of Warwick, it became a long, narrow city, resulted in a multitude of transportation, housing and education problems. It was no longer practical for the spreading population to snake through traffic to the downtown area at one end of the city to shop, attend movies, and attend to official city business (e.g., get marriage and hunting licenses, pay fines, etc.) Apartment complexes, shopping areas, and malls with movie theaters spread upward. One of these developments is a huge business district in the Oyster Point section of Newport News, Virginia. It is a 52-acre high density mixed use development of shops and restaurants and office space. In fact, many city offices have relocated there from the downtown area. Termed “City Center”, it has been touted as the new "downtown" because of its new geographic centrality on the Virginia Peninsula and its proximity to the retail/business nucleus of the city.

I have included this bit of local history because that inexorable urban sprawl has affected me personally. It so happens that this little housing development which was a distant suburb of the downtown area when I moved here in 1963 is now within a short walking distance from the “City Center”. Now, the transition from forests, swamps, and farmland to streets, parking lots, buildings and apartments complexes has reduced cooling by radiation and absorption of solar energy, with the result that I now live in a subtropical region instead of the former moderate zone. This warming has several advantages, like a longer producing period for my tomato garden, winter temperatures rarely below 20 degrees at night, climate favorable for camelias, azaleas and St. Augustine grass, etc.

Now I could write that one of the disadvantages is that we miss the wild animals that would occasionally appear when we were a distant suburb of the downtown area. But that would not be true - just because we still have those wild animals that occasionally appear. We can thank the federal government for that unexpected turn of events. Many decades ago the government gained a protective easement on each side of a small drainage creek that feeds into a reservoir that at that time provided a reliable water supply for Langley Air Force Base. The water deepens as it empties into the reservoir lake, and the easement widens correspondingly. Some fishing is permitted in the water, but no hunting, because of its proximity to residential areas. Consequently, various animals breed freely there.

That drainage creek is only about ¼ mile from our street in the direction away from City Center – a comfortable walk down Atkins Lane, which terminates at the edge of the government easement. If one is willing to venture a walk along the easement, he is likely to see a small fish, turtles, a water moccasin, a heron, a swan, geese, or ducks, or even a deer or two.

However, the gods who rule over residential area development have provided an even better treat for those who love wild animals, or those who admire the singular beauty of deer, or nature photography hobbyists. For some mysterious reason one of the lots near the end of Atkins Lane remained vacant throughout the period that this area was being developed into a residential site. In the early mornings or evenings, a deer or two, or a herd of ten to fifteen, may appear near the far end of that deep lot. The scene is impressive in the wispy fog of dawn, but it is even more so in the evening, when the setting sun emits beams of light that penetrate through the gaps between trees and focuses on the herd like a stage light illuminating a dramatic scene in a play. A photographer could easily come away with a picture worthy of the cover of a Field and Stream magazine.

However, deer, unlike cattle, are not content with eating grass, especially when a plentiful supply of more delectable food is readily available in the form of ornamental shrubs and flowers in the neighborhood lawns. Occasionally when one of us steps outside in the early morning to bring in the newspaper, he may catch a family of deer enjoying a breakfast of azaleas and flower blossoms.

Many of the other wild animals also frequent the neighborhood. Numerous shade trees provide homes for squirrels and a variety of birds, while azaleas and other shrubs assure us of a steady production of rabbits. If one makes the mistake of leaving his garbage dumpster lid partially open, he should not be surprised to find that raccoons have left a real mess for him to clean up. I once hated the sight of an opossum in my yard, but after I read that they are voracious consumers of ticks and mosquitoes, I became their friend. I don't see one very often, but when I do I stand still and quietly watch him ambling along from one patch of azaleas to another. Recently, when I went to fill a watering pail from one of my rain barrels, I found that both barrels were teeming with tadpoles.

At times like these, I catch a glimpse of an era that should be long gone in the midtown of a burgeoning metropolis.  But when the rush hour begins, it leaves no doubt that we are no longer in the far outskirts of the city.

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