Hampton's near proximity to the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean was its lifeblood — and the chief reason for its emergence as one of early colonial America's leading ports. But the prime waterfront location that attracted the admiration of so many of the first English settlers — and made it home to so many pilots — also meant constant danger.
In 1667, Dutch raiders sailed into Hampton Roads and seized 20 merchant vessels. In 1673, they returned and burned 11 more.
So brazen were the pirates who terrorized the roadstead in 1700 that Hampton's royal customs collector was killed while defending the harbor. And during the Revolution, British naval forces bombarded St. John's Church and burned several houses.
Not until the War of 1812, however, did Hampton's vulnerability to naval attack become legend.
Storming the town on June 25, 1813, British landing parties led by Adm. George Cockburn burned and looted without restraint, igniting a national uproar as dramatic reports of the atrocities spread. "Remember Hampton!" became a rallying cry for troops manning the ramparts at New Orleans under Andrew Jackson.
So great was the fear of attack from the Chesapeake that people as far away as the Shenandoah Valley looked east with dread. And not long after the war, the nation began constructing new coastal defenses.
"There were 42 fortifications in the Third Coastal Defense System," Hampton History Museum curator J. Michael Cobb says. "And the first and largest of these was Fort Monroe."
Long before the first stone was laid in 1819, Capt. John Smith had recognized Old Point Comfort as "a little isle fit for a castle." Five previous forts had occupied the strategic site before the "Gibraltar of the Chesapeake" rose over 15 years at a cost of $2 million.
Even before it was completed, this mammoth declaration of national resolve and military might not only provided an indispensable stream of money and jobs but also tied the declining port town of colonial times back into America's story.
"It changed the national perception of this place," Cobb says. "It was a visual milestone, a huge and imposing structure — especially for the 19th century — and it became a symbol of national pride and independence."
Early on, the project gave birth to another anchor of Hampton's history, too.
Though originally designed to house engineers and construction workers, the Hygeia Hotel constructed just outside the fort's main gate in 1822 soon began attracting guests more interested in seaside breezes, sea bathing and seafood than artillery drills.
President John Tyler frequently visited the fashionable resort, which expanded to include target shooting, billiards, bowling and ballroom dancing as well as more than 200 rooms. President Andrew Jackson, who used nearby Fort Wool as a summer retreat, ordered meals from the Hygeia's kitchen.
By 1858, the grand hotel saw more than 5,000 guests a year, sparking a tradition of hospitality that lasted generations.
"Everyone gets the picture about how great Old Point is — the hotel owners, the steamship lines and thousands and thousands of guests," historian John V. Quarstein says. "It had a healthy climate, great food, good transportation and things to see and do — and that made it the most popular resort in the South."
Find out more about Old Point Comfort's resorts at dailypress.com/oldpointcomfort.