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Transportation

The history of Virginia’s economy is tied to the history of transportation in the state. The early canals and first railroads facilitated the movement of agricultural products from the Piedmont to cities along the Fall Line, en route to eastern Virginia. When coal became an affordable energy source in demand both nationally and abroad, port cities grew in response and Virginia became a shipbuilding center. The invention of the automobile necessitated the building of a network of roads that increased commerce but at the same time ravaged unspoiled segments of the landscape. Most recently the accessibility of the Newport News harbor—deep enough to accept supertankers—has become a national hub of import and export activities. Explore below the impact of transportation on Virginia history.

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16,000 BCE to 1622 CE
A Land of Opportunity: Creating Virginia
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1623 to 1763
A Distant Dominion
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1764 to 1824
From British Colony to American State
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1825 to 1860
Challenge of a New Century
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1861 to 1876
Civil War and Reconstruction
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1877 to 1924
Virginia in the New South
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1925 to Today
Dynamic Dominion

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