Cheatham Annex (abbreviated CAX) is a Naval Base, located near Williamsburg, Virginia on the York River approximately 35 miles northwest of Norfolk in the heart of the famous Jamestown–Williamsburg–Yorktown "Historic Triangle." Although Cheatham Annex was not commissioned until June 1943, the land on which the base is located can claim the unique distinction of having been associated with every conflict involving the United States freedom and independence. The mission of Cheatham Annex includes supplying Atlantic Fleet ships and providing recreational opportunities to military and civilian personnel.
Location
Cheatham Annex facility is located outside of Williamsburg in York County, Virginia. The annex is adjacent to the York River, between Queen Creek and King Creek, approximately 15 miles upstream from the Chesapeake Bay. Located in York County, Virginia at latitude 37.284 and longitude -76.591. or Latitude: 37°17’2”N Longitude: 76°35’25”W. The average elevation is 26 feet 5 inches.
The eastern section of Cheatham Annex is a 1,579-acre federal facility bounded by the entrance of Queen Creek into the York River to the north, the York River to the east, ane King Creek to the south, the western boundaries are with Department of Interior (DOI) property. The former Virginia Fuel Farm is across the Colonial Parkway, southwest of this section of the annex. This former part of Cheatham Annex, 262 acres of contaminated soil, is being turned into a golf course.
The western section of Cheatham Annex is bounded to the north by the Colonial Parkway, and half of the eastern boundary is adjacent to the Virginia Fuel Farm. The remaining western, southern, and lower eastern boundary is adjacent to non-federal government land. There are several ponds on, or adjacent to the annex, including Penniman Lake, Youth Pond, Jones Pond, and Cheatham Pond. Overland drainage from the sources at the annex may flow into these ponds or the York River
The climate is moderate. Between 2001 and 2021, the average temperature was 55 °F. During the same period, the hottest month was July, averaging 74 °F, while January had the coldest average temperature at 35°F.
For 2001 to 2021, the average rainfall at Cheatham Annex was 45.2 inches per year. In that timeframe, August was the wettest month with an average of 5.3 inches, with the driest month over the same period was February, with 2.6 inches.
History Before 1630 Positioned in the center of the Jamestown–Williamsburg–Yorktown "Historic Triangle," CAX was once the location of a native Indian village. Old maps and artifacts indicate an Indian village existed in the area of Penniman Spit, located on base. Historians believe that a Spanish Jesuit Mission occupied the area and was annihilated in an Indian massacre in 1572. Beginning in the 1700s colonial settlers gradually displaced the Indians. The initial settlement of Virginia was the task of the Virginia Company, a private English corporation. From the founding of Jamestown in 1607 to dissolution of the company in 1624, colonization activity was confined to the James River, and practically everyone in the Colony lived on the banks of this one river.
Utiemaria (1630-1640)
A census taken when the crown assumed administration of the fledgling Colony lists a total of 1,232 individuals alive in Virginia in January 1625. Included among the 1,232 were Ensign , his wife Anne, their son John, and three servants living on a plantation of 100 acres called Utopia, on the James River below Jamestown. John Utie is credited as being the first known fiddler on American soil.
In 1630, the Virginia Colony decided to settle the lands along the lower York River. On the south banks of the river, John West (governor) received 600 acres on the east side of Felgates creek (later known as Bellfield Plantation and the "E.D. Plantation"). At the same time, Captain John Utie was awarded 600 acres on the west side of King’s Creek. Captain Utie named his new plantation "Utiemaria" and lived there until he died in November 1638. His son John Utie acquired Utiemaria and possessed it until it was sold to Col William Tayloe (the immigrant) in 1640.
Kings Creek Plantation (1640-1830s) William Tayloe (the immigrant) died in 1655. In 1656 or 1657 Col William Tayloe's widow, Elizabeth Kingsmill, married Colonel Nathaniel Bacon (This Colonel Bacon, who rose to the president of the Council of the State, was first cousin once removed of Nathaniel Bacon, Jr., who led Bacon's Rebellion.) Though they owned other property, Bacon and his wife used King's Creek Plantation (as it was then called) as their residence, although the deed was still held by the estate of the late William Tayloe. Another resident of King's Creek was Colonel Bacon's young niece, Abigail Smith. In 1672, Abigail Smith married Lewis Burwell II, a prosperous planter. On Nov 23, 1693 Col. William Tayloe (the nephew) of Richmond Co., VA, nephew and heir of Maj. William Tayloe (the immigrant), late of King's Creek in York Co., deceased, deeds to Lewis Burwell, 1200 acres between King's Creek and Queen's Creek on York River, formerly the property of Col. William Tayloe (the immigrant), the elder."The Tayloes of Virginia and Allied Families," by W. Randolph Tayloe (Berryville, VA, 1963) p.1,79. FHL #929.273 T211t. Cites: (a) York Co., VA deeds.
Burwell Family era (1697-1830s)
Kings Creek Plantation would be held by the Burwell family into the 1800s. On Lewis Burwell's death in 1710. King's Creek Plantation passed to his son Major James Burwell. James Burwell was one of the justices for York County and a burgess from 1715 to 1718. James Burwell's 1718 grave is located in a brick-walled cemetery adjacent to a tee on the modern day golf course.
In the 1780s Cornwallis' British troops and General Washington's Continental Army used a site on what is now Cheatham.
+ Owners of King's Creek Plantation: Person Dates Notes Captain John Utie 1630-1638 "Utiemaria" John Utie 1638-1640 Inherited "Utiemaria" Col. William Tayloe (the immigrant) 1640-1655 purchased from John Utie Mrs. Elizabeth Kingsmill (Tayloe) (Bacon) 1655-1657 deed was held by estate of late Col. William Tayloe Nathaniel Bacon (Virginia politician) 1657-March 16, 1692 married widow of late Col. William Tayloe, deed was held by Tayloe's estate. Died without children Mrs. Abigail Smith (Burwell) March 16, 1692 – Nov 23, 1693 niece and primary heir of Nathaniel Bacon. Had married Lewis Burwell around 1674. She died November 12, 1692, shortly after Bacon. Deed still held by Tayloe's estate. Lewis Burwell, Jr. Nov 23, 1693 – September 1696 acquired from estate of the late Col. William Tayloe Lewis Burwell September 1696 – December 1710 James Burwell December 1710 – October 1718 Nathaniel Bacon Burwell October 1718 – May 1746 James Burwell May 1746 – September 1775 Nathaniel Burwell September 1775 – April 1790 John Tayloe Corbin April 1790 – 1794 Gawin Lane Corbin 1794-1821 Dr. Richard Randolph Corbin 1821-183? ? 183? - before 1914 DuPont before 1914-1926 ? 1926-1942 U.S. Navy 1942-
1830s to 1916 In April 1862 all of Yorktown, including this site, was caught under a thirty-day siege which included the largest concentration of artillery in one place at one time in history. This was during the Seven Days Battles or more correctly referred to as the Peninsula Campaign. This was the unsuccessful attempt by McClellan to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond and end the war.
Penniman, Virginia (1916 to 1942)
The area land was used primarily for farming until World War I when the E.I. DuPont Nemours Company built a large powder and shell-loading plant. The DuPont plant loaded explosives into large-caliber shell. Founded during the early 1900s the town was named Penniman, in honor of Russell S. Penniman, inventor of ammonia dynamite. Penniman, Virginia, eventually grew to a city of over 15,000 residents.
During World War I, prior to Navy ownership and activity, a portion of the current Navy property was the location of a large powder and shell-loading plant, the duPont de Nemours Company's U.S. Penniman shell-loading plant. The Penniman shell-loading plant operated under contract to the U.S. government loading shells from 1917 to 1918. The facility consisted of approximately 3,300 acres and included what is now the Cheatham Annex, the United States Department on the Interior National Park Service (National Colonial Park), and the Virginia Department of Emergency Services fuel farm (no longer active).
During this time the area included a city of 10,000 people and was named Penniman. The Penniman shell-loading plant, which was a large powder- and shell-loading facility operated during World War I. The Penniman facility closed in 1918. By May 1919, less than 100 people remained in the city of Penniman and by 1920 the land had reverted to farmland.
Following the end of World War I in 1918, through 1926, the U.S. government operated the Penniman General Ordnance Depot to prepare manufactured ordnance and explosives for long-term storage and shipment to permanent U.S. ordnance depots. At the same time, E.I. duPont de Nemours Engineering Company was decommissioning military ordnance and dismantling the former shell-loading plant and TNT plant structures. From 1926 to 1942, the land was in private ownership and was used for farming or left idle.
1942 and WWII With the outbreak of World War 2, the US government construction began on August 27, 1942 at Cheatham with the erection of a supply pier. The pier consisted of an approach, 2,850 feet long by 28 feet wide, with an L-head at the extreme outboard end, 1,215 feet long by 42 feet wide, parallel to the river channel.
Early in September, 1942, work began on the construction at Cheatham of 10 storehouses, an administration building, and all the appurtenant buildings and services needed to make the annex a secure and independent naval installation. The warehouses were of temporary construction, without heat or sprinklers, 120 feet by 828 feet, one-story, affording approximately 1,000,000 square feet of covered storage space.
This area of land located in the Jamestown, Williamsburg, Yorktown historical triangle was seized by the Navy on June 21, 1943. When commissioned and annexed to the Naval Supply Depot at Norfolk, the facility was renamed FISC Cheatham Annex in honor of RADM Joseph Johnston Cheatham, the 1929 Chief of the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts, the forerunner of today's Naval Supply Systems Command. He was also the fifth and eighth commanding officer of Naval Supply Depot Norfolk.
The first ten storehouses at Cheatham Annex were built in 1943. They were one-story cinder-block and timber-frame structures, 835 feet by 120 feet, with concrete ground-level floors. The second group of warehouses, built in 1945, were six storehouses, doubled the station's general storage capacity, by virtue of the buildings' 200-foot width on the 835-foot length. Steel-frame construction was used. The transit shed was of bolted-steel construction, 1,500 feet long by 240 feet wide. The cold storage building, originally built 677 feet by 200 feet, was later extended to 877 feet in length. It had concrete foundations, brick and cinder-block walls, wood frame, and concrete floors at car-door height.
The Fleet Industrial Supply Center, Cheatham Annex, officially opened in 1943 as a storage depot, built on the site of a munitions plant. The 1,572-acre property included 7 archaeological sites, Colonial grave sites, DuPont Company buildings built in 1910, and several World War II buildings.
At inception, CAX occupied approximately 3,349 acres.