Queen's Creek - 20th-21st Centuries

20th-21st Centuries

In the 1930s, the Merrimack Trail was as State Route 168 from Anderson Corner (near Toano in western James City County) to the eastern tip of the Peninsula to reach ferry services across the harbor of Hampton Roads to Norfolk. Its purpose was to supplement the capacity of parallel U.S. Route 60, especially as traffic volume grew with the development of Colonial Williamsburg. It featured a bridge across College Creek. Nearby, the new State Route 132 was built to provide access to the Colonial Parkway, the Visitor's Center of Colonial Williamsburg, and a planned non-commercially featured entrance to the Historic Area and downtown points, such as the brick colonial-style Chesapeake and Ohio Railway station (since restored and in use as the Williamsburg Transportation Center). Route 132 also bridged Queen's Creek, slightly upstream from the Merrimac Trail.

In the 1960s, Interstate 64 was built through the area. The bridges across Queen's Creek, which has grown wide by that point downstream, are among the largest along the highway in York County. Motorists in both directions are given a scenic view of the brackish creek, adjacent wetlands and waterfowl.

North of Interstate 64, Queen's Creek forms the border between the military reservations land of Camp Peary and the Cheatham Annex section of the Naval Weapons Station Yorktown. The former towns of Magruder and Bigler's Mill were located north of Queen's Creek in this area. The former town of Penniman south of Queen's Creek and north of King's Creek near their respective confluences with the York River. With the creation of the military reservations, the three towns joined history with other "lost towns" of Virginia. Many displaced residents relocated nearby, and some families and their descendents live in Grove in southeastern James City County.