Biohazard Cleanup Near Sandy Bottom Suffolk, VA

Suffolk is an independent city in Virginia that was founded by English colonists in 1742 as a port town on the Nansemond River.

Suffolk had a population of 94,324 at the 2020 census, up 11.5% from 84,585 in 2010.

Suffolk is the largest city in Virginia by land area, covering about 399 square miles of land within a total area of about 429 square miles.

Present-day Suffolk was formed in 1974, when the city consolidated with Nansemond County and the towns of Holland and Whaleyville.

Part of the Great Dismal Swamp lies within Suffolk, and the city contains parts of the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge and the Nansemond National Wildlife Refuge.

Planters Peanuts was established in Suffolk in 1912 by Italian immigrant Amedeo Obici, and Suffolk is the birthplace of the Planters mascot Mr. Peanut.

By 1941 Suffolk had been declared the 'Peanut Capital of the World,' and local radio station WLPM once joked that its call letters stood for World's Largest Peanut Market.

Suffolk has hosted its annual Peanut Fest each fall since 1977, celebrating the city's peanut farming and processing heritage.

Suffolk was burned by the British in 1779 during the American Revolutionary War, when thousands of barrels of stored turpentine and pitch caught fire.

Suffolk's skyline of care is anchored by Sentara Obici Hospital, the successor to the Louise Obici Memorial Hospital funded by Amedeo Obici in memory of his wife.