From Daily Press - Living Here Magazine, a Guide to Hampton Roads Yorktown, VA York County is the third-smallest in square miles of Virginia's 95 counties. With the Yorktown battlefields, remade waterfront called "Yorktown Riverwalk Landing" and Water Country USA water park, the county isn't small in tourist destinations. York County is one of Colonial Virginia's eight shires. Originally called Charles Village County, it was renamed in 1643 to pay homage to England's Duke of York. In 1790, a census showed the county had 5,233 residents. Yorktown is the easternmost corner of the Historic Triangle that includes Williamsburg and Jamestown. All three historic areas are connected by the 23-mile Colonial Parkway. Millions of vehicles a year travel the three-lane parkway that was completed in 1957. Beset by lane closures for construction projects that began last year and extended into March, the parkway was reopened in mid-March for unobstructed travel. A section of shoreline that was eroding on the York River and a culvert that had been washed out near Williamsburg were among the sections of road that saw improvements. A new 240-acre retail center called "The Marquis" is under construction and scheduled to open its first phase in October. Prospective tenants include Best Buy, Kohl's Target and JC Penney. Richmond-based cigarette manufacturer Phillip Morris is reopening and expanding a manufacturing facility in York that could add up to 180 jobs at an average salary of $52,000 a year. Construction has also started on a multi-million dollar athletic fields complex adjacent to Harwood's Mill Reservoir off of Route 17. Plans call for building 13 ball fields on up to 187 acres of land leased from Newport News. York County supervisors have set aside $15 million in construction funds for the project. York will also be featuring festivities related to Jamestown 2007, the yearlong festival commemorating the 400th anniversary of the nation's first permanent English settlement. By the numbers: Population: 62,808 Area: 108 square miles Incorporated: 1634 Median age: 37.6 Landmarks: Yorktown Battlefield, Colonial Parkway, Victory Monument, Yorktown Riverwalk Landing Board of Supervisors chairman: Ken Bowman From Daily Press - Living Here Magazine, a Guide to Hampton Roads Hampton, VA While Jamestown celebrates its 400th anniversary, Hampton waits, watches and reminds that it's only three years until the celebration moves downstream. Hampton officials also want you to know that the people who colonized Jamestown stopped at Old Point Comfort, now part of Fort Monroe, on their way from England. But even approaching its 400th birthday, Hampton is a city with its eye on the future. There is a new primary shopping complex called the Peninsula Town Center replacing Coliseum Mall in 2009; a new live-performance theater due in 2011; new condominium developments downtown over the next few years; and old Buckroe Beach is getting a facelift. An array of museums can be found in Hampton - the city's downtown history museum, the military Casemate Museum at Fort Monroe, the Virginia Air and Space museum downtown and the Hampton University museum, with more than 9,000 examples of African-American art. For all of its museums, the city's history really lives in its neighborhoods, in Pasture Point and Olde Hampton, which stand where the old Grand Contraband Camp once stood in reminder of a time in 1861, when African-Americans slaves made their way to sanctuary in Fort Monroe. There, they were declared Confederate "contraband" and lived as free people for the first time in their lives. Next to the space museum, walk a few steps to the past to ride an eight-decades-old antique carousel in Carousel Park. By the Numbers: Population: 145,161 Area: 55 square miles Incorporated: 1610 Median age: 34.9 Landmarks: St. John's Church, Fort Monroe, Hampton University, Virginia Air & Space Center, Buckroe Beach City Hall: 22 Lincoln Street Mayor: Ross A Kearney II From Daily Press - Living Here Magazine, a Guide to Hampton Roads Newport News, VA Newport News was first incorporated in 1896. Before then, the land that became Newport New echoed with the sounds of the Civil War. Today Newport News still remains steeped in history. Lee Hall Mansion, one of the city's main historic buildings in north Newport News, was the headquarters for Confederate Gen. John Bankhead Magruder in the spring of 1862. In 1886, Collis P. Huntington started his first shipyard. The city's economy remains dominated by the shipyard - now owned by Northrop Grumman Newport News - the only on in the country that builds nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and one of two that builds nuclear powered submarines. For decades, the shipyard, which now employs about 19,000 people, was the largest private employer in Virginia. Food Lion supermarkets passed it in recent years. Fort Eustis Army Base, which specialized in Army transportation, is in the northern part of the city. It gained more jobs than it lost as a result of the recent military realignment. Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport, just north of the popular Patrick Henry Mall, is growing fast. Today Newport News finds itself amid dramatic transformation. Four major developments that will mix housing and retail are in various stages of planning and construction. Port Warwick off Jefferson Avenue has introduced the architectural trend of New Urbanism - a new take on the old, small-town concept of building houses within walking distance of shops and workplaces. It offers upscale eateries, trendy shops, outdoor artwork and new housing. At City Center just across from Port Warwick a new hotel and a conference center along with restaurants, retailers and housing emerges as a new draw for the city. Another two mix of shops and housing, called Asheton and Huntington Pointe are in the works in the northern part of the city. By the numbers: Population: 183,218 Area: 69.2 square miles Incorporated: 1896 Median age: 33.2 years Landmarks: Virginia Living Museum, The Mariners' Museum, Lee Hall Mansion, Endview Plantation, Newsome House Museum & Cultural Center, Newport News Park, Peninsula Fine Arts Center, Virginia War Museum. Mayor: Joe S. Frank