Restaurants within 2 miles of Newport News, Virginia

Listing 41 restaurants in and around Newport News.

The original area near the mouth of the James River was first referred to as "Newportes Newes" as early as 1621 and is purported to be the longest continuously named place in the United States. The source of the name "Newport News" is not known with certainty. Several versions are recorded, and it is subject of popular speculation locally. Probably the best-known explanation holds that when an early group of Jamestown colonists left to return to England after the Starving Time during the winter of 1609-10 aboard a ship of Captain Christopher Newport, they encountered another fleet of supply ships under the new Governor Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr in the James River off Mulberry Island with reinforcements of men and supplies. The new governor ordered them to turn around, and return to Jamestown. Under this theory, the community was named for Newport's "good news." (It is probable that not all of those intending to depart thought returning to the harsh conditions of Jamestown was "good" news, however). Another possibility is that the community may have derived its name from an old English word "news" meaning "new town." At least one source reports that the "New" arose from the original settlement's being rebuilt after a fire. According to a 1901 article in the College of William and Mary's Quarterly Magazine, the case is made that it is more probable that the original name was "New Port Newce", named for a person with the name Newce and the town's place as a new seaport. The namesake, Sir William Newce, was originally an English soldier and settler in Ireland where he had established Newcestown near Bondon in County Cork. He sailed to Virginia with Sir Francis Wyatt in October, 1621 and was granted 2,500 acres of land, but died two days after. His brother, Capt. Thomas Newce, was given "600 acres at Kequatan [sic], now called Elizabeth Cittie." A partner Daniel Gookin, completed the establishment of the settlement. In the General History of Virginia edited by Captain John Smith, occurs this reference: "Nov. 22, 1621, arrived Master Gookin out of Ireland, with fifty men of his own, and thirty passengers exceedingly well furnished with all sorts of provisions and cattle, and planted himself at Newports Newes." Records following the Indian Massacre of 1622 state "Daniel Gookin successfully defended his settlement at Neport [sic] News against all attacks. Regardless of the origin of the name, the fact it was formerly written as "Newport's News" is verified by numerous early documents and maps, and by local tradition. The change to Newport News apparently was brought about by usage, for by 1851 the Post Office Department sanctioned "New Port News" (three words as the name of the first post office, and in 1866 it approved the name as "Newport News", the current form. Newport News was originally an unincorporated community known locally as Newport News Point located in the southeastern portion of Warwick River Shire, one of eight created in colonial Virginia in 1634. During the 17th century, shortly after establishment of the Jamestown Settlement in 1607, English settlers and explored and began settling the areas adjacent to Hampton Roads. In 1619, the area of Newport News was included in one of four huge corporations of the Virginia Company of London, and became known as Elizabeth Cittie [sic], which extended west all the way to Skiffe's Creek (currently the border between Newport News and James City County. Elizabeth Cittie also included all of presnt-day South Hampton Roads. By 1634, the English colony of Virginia consisted of a total population of approximately 5,000 inhabitants and was redivided into eight shires or counties. The area of Newport News became part Warwick River Shire which became Warwick County in 1637. By 1810, the county seat was at Denbigh. For a short time in the mid-19th century, the county seat was moved to Newport News. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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