Rip Raps facts for kids

Rip Raps is a small 15 acre (60,000 m²) artificial island at the mouth of the harbor area known as Hampton Roads in the independent city of Hampton in southeastern Virginia in the United States. Its name is derived from the Rip Rap Shoals in Hampton Roads, which also gave their name to a 19th-century criminal gang. In 2020 the island was converted into a bird sanctuary, and routine public access was terminated.

History

Rip Raps was originally built in 1817 as part of the harbor defenses to provide a setting on the south side of the navigation channel for Fort Wool (built originally in 1830 and named Fort Calhoun but rebuilt and renamed in 1902), the companion to Fort Monroe (on the northern side of the channel) in protecting access to Hampton Roads with an anti-submarine net. Fort Wool was decommissioned after World War II. It was ceded to Virginia in 1967, and transferred to Hampton, Virginia.

President Andrew Jackson used it as a retreat, visiting between August 19, 1829 through August 16, 1835.

Rip Raps is located adjacent to one of the unnamed man-made islands of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel, which was initially completed and opened to traffic in 1957. However, Rip Raps and Fort Wool are accessible to the public only by water via harbor tours.