Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Virginia Peninsula is a natural landform in southeast Virginia outlined by the York River, James River, Hampton Roads, and Chesapeake Bay. It is sometimes known as the Lower Peninsula to distinguish it from the Middle Peninsula and Northern Neck.
The first permanent English settlement in North America was established at Jamestown in 1607. The first continuously occupied settlement was at Kecoughtan in Elizabeth City County which is now the City of Hampton.
The decisive battle of the American Revolution, the siege of Yorktown in 1781, took place on the Virginia Peninsula. This event occurred after the Union Army invaded the region during the Civil War as part of the Peninsula Campaign in 1862.
In 1881 the Peninsula Extension of the C&O Railway was built from Richmond through Williamsburg to Newport News Point. Within only 15 years a rural farm community in Warwick County turned into the new independent city of Newport News by 1896 when coal piers brought ships to what became the world's largest shipyard.
During the two world wars massive military facilities were established including Langley Air Force Base Fort Eustis Naval Weapons Station Yorktown and Camp Peary. These developments required the disappearance of communities such as Lackey Halsteads Point Penniman Biglers Mill and Magruder.