Biohazard Cleanup Near Oaklette Chesapeake, VA

Chesapeake is an independent city that was created on January 2, 1963, when the former independent city of South Norfolk consolidated with Norfolk County, with voters choosing the new name Chesapeake by referendum.

Chesapeake's settled history is much older than 1963 — the first English settlement in the area began around 1620 along the banks of the Elizabeth River, and Norfolk County's founding dates to 1636.

Chesapeake had a population of 249,422 at the 2020 census, which made it the second-most populous city in Virginia.

Chesapeake is the second-largest city by land area in Virginia, covering about 351 square miles of land and water, blending urban neighborhoods with farmland, forests and wetlands.

Chesapeake has about 93,626 households in Census Bureau survey figures for 2020-2024, averaging 2.65 people per household, and about 74.4% of its homes are owner-occupied.

Chesapeake contains a large portion of the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, a vast wetland ecosystem of more than 112,000 acres straddling the Virginia-North Carolina line, known for the East Coast's largest population of black bears.

Chesapeake's Dismal Swamp Canal, first envisioned by George Washington when he surveyed the swamp in 1763 and dug by hand starting in 1793, opened in 1805 and is the oldest operating artificial waterway in the United States, now part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.

Chesapeake was the site of the Battle of Great Bridge on December 9, 1775, a decisive Revolutionary War victory just a few hundred yards from today's City Hall that effectively ended British rule in Virginia.

Chesapeake is said to contain more miles of deepwater canals than any other city in the country, and more than 10,000 boats a year traverse the Intracoastal Waterway through the city.

Chesapeake's outdoor highlights include the 48-acre Chesapeake Arboretum with its gardens and trails and Battlefield Park at Great Bridge.