Penniman, Virginia facts for kids

Penniman was once a small town in York County, Virginia. It was located on the south bank of the York River, about 6 miles (10 km) northeast of Williamsburg. This area is part of the Virginia Peninsula in southeastern Virginia, United States.

The town and a factory were built by the E.I. DuPont Nemours company. They originally made TNT, which is an explosive. Penniman was named after Russell Sylvanus Penniman, an American chemist. He invented ammonia dynamite in 1885.

During World War I, the U.S. Navy took over the area. They used it as a Mine Depot. The factory was built to employ 10,000 people, and housing was made for 15,000. After 1919, the Navy left, and only a few people stayed to farm.

Less than 25 years later, during World War II, the land was used by the military again. The area, including Penniman, became a Navy base called Cheatham Annex. Today, it is part of the Naval Weapons Station Yorktown, and you cannot visit it freely.

History of Penniman

Before World War I, the land where Penniman was built was mostly farmland. Many Freedmen (formerly enslaved people) and their families had farmed there since the American Civil War.

Penniman During World War I

In 1916, the E.I. DuPont Nemours company announced plans to build a large factory. This factory would make gunpowder and load shells. It was located about 6 miles (10 km) northeast of Williamsburg in York County. DuPont first thought about 200 men would work there. However, the factory became much larger, hiring up to 10,000 employees.

The new factory and the town for its workers were named Penniman. This honored Russell Sylvanus Penniman, who invented a safer type of dynamite. At its busiest, Penniman had homes for 15,000 people. It also had dorms, a store, a post office, a bank, and a police station. There was a church, a YWCA, a YMCA, and a hospital. The local American Red Cross chapter also started helping the factory workers and residents.

The first part of the Penniman factory was finished in late 1916. It was known as the DuPont plant #37. The high wages paid at the plant attracted many workers. Farmers in the area found it hard to find help for their crops because so many people went to work at the factory. Rents and food prices also went up because of the new population.

The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) built a special train track to the factory site. This track connected to the York River. A train station for DuPont opened on June 1, 1916. By 1918, Penniman had about 15,000 residents. Three passenger trains traveled each way between Williamsburg and Penniman every day.

Between the Wars

In November 1918, World War I ended. This meant the ammunition factory was no longer needed. The town of Penniman slowly fell apart and closed. For a while, the site was used to get rid of old military materials. When the jobs ended, most workers left. By June 1919, fewer than 100 people lived in Penniman. DuPont took apart most of its buildings and machines.

For about 20 years, from 1923 to 1943, the land was privately owned. It was used for farming or left empty.

World War II: Cheatham Annex

During World War II, in 1942, the U.S. Navy took over more than 3,000 acres (12 km²) along the York River. They did this to build Cheatham Annex. Much of this land was part of the old Penniman site. The area was used again for the war, this time as a storage and shipping facility for the U.S. Navy.

Cheatham Annex opened in June 1943. It was a satellite unit of the Naval Supply Depot in Norfolk, Virginia. It provided large storage areas in the Hampton Roads region. They stored things like gasoline, diesel, and other fuels. The rural location was also used to get rid of certain waste materials from Navy ships.

After World War II

Cheatham Annex continued to be a Navy supply depot after World War II. Some of the fuel storage facilities were given to the Commonwealth of Virginia in the 1970s. This was to help during fuel shortages. However, due to a lot of pollution, this turned out to be a bad deal for the state.

In 1979, part of the former Penniman site was given to the National Park Service. It became part of the Colonial National Historical Park. The beautiful and historic Colonial Parkway is a well-known part of this park.

In 1998, the Cheatham Annex facility was put under the control of the nearby Naval Weapons Station Yorktown. In 2000, a part of the Cheatham Annex area was named a Superfund cleanup site by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This means it needed special cleaning due to pollution.

Legacy of Penniman

As of 2007, the remaining part of the old Penniman town site is on the Cheatham Annex property. It is next to Camp Peary. Camp Peary is reportedly a training facility for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), sometimes called "The Farm."

Like Penniman, two other towns, Magruder and Bigler's Mill, were also taken over by the government for military use. Their residents had to move, and parts of the towns were redeveloped. Access to all these areas is restricted.

South of the military bases, Penniman Road still exists. It mostly follows the old Williamsburg Road, which once led from Yorktown to the colonial capital city. This road goes through the Naval Weapons Station and Cheatham Annex property. Near Fort Magruder, an important Civil War defense site, Penniman Road forms a border between James City and York counties. It ends near Second Street and Page Street in Williamsburg.