Isle of Wight County broke ground April 2 on the “460 Commerce Center” – a roughly 352,000-square-foot manufacturing and distribution facility in the Shirley T. Holland Intermodal Park. The center, named for tis proximity to the four-lane Route 460 that passes through Isle of Wight, will be built on a roughly 43-acre Economic Development Authority-owned […]

The 1750 Isle of Wight County Courthouse on Main Street will change hands for the first time in 11 years on May 18. That’s the date Historic Smithfield, the nonprofit organization that’s owned the courthouse since 2013, will officially deed the property to the 1750 Courthouse Board, which for the past 11 years has operated […]

The Virginia Board of Education voted unanimously on April 25 to approve a lab school at Paul D. Camp Community College’s Smithfield campus. The Isle Marine Trades Academy, which the college plans to operate in partnership with Isle of Wight County Schools and Newport News Shipbuilding, will allow up to 80 high school students to […]

Isle of Wight County residents will get a second opportunity on May 28 to weigh in on a proposed 44-megawatt solar farm at Burwells Bay and Moonlight roads. The county’s Planning Commission voted 7-2 on April 23 to schedule a new public hearing for May 28 prior to revoting on Jacksonville, Florida-based Palladium Energy’s conditional […]

For the first time in 38 years, “The Sound of Music” will return to the Smithfield Little Theatre. April 26 is opening night for the 1959 Broadway musical based on the memoir of Maria Augusta Trapp, a postulant who leaves her convent to become governess to the seven children of Captain Georg Von Trapp as […]

A Gloucester County woman accused of a Nov. 4 hit-and-run on Benns Church Boulevard that left a 14-year-old boy with life-threatening injuries is scheduled to appear in court on July 29 for a preliminary hearing. Virginia State Police say the teenager was walking a bike along the highway at approximately 12:25 a.m. the night of […]

Increasing a proposed multi-warehouse complex’s distance from two residential neighborhoods in Windsor hasn’t placated every opponent of the project. Isle of Wight County’s Planning Commission voted 6-1 in March to recommend denial of Tidewater Logistics Center developer Meridian Property Purchaser LLC’s application to rezone 154 acres of farmland and forestry on the outskirts of town […]

Area lawmakers joined the majority in a 34-6 Virginia Senate vote on April 17 to reject Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s requested amendments to a bill seeking to overturn the state’s ban on so-called “skill games.” The vote means the bill will return to Youngkin unchanged for either his signature or veto. Youngkin spokesman Christian Martinez didn’t […]

It’s been just over a year since singer-songwriter Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library expanded into Isle of Wight County. In that time, the program has seen nearly half of all eligible children in the county enroll to receive one free, age-appropriate book each month by mail from birth through age 5. “We currently have approximately 550 […]

Smithfield’s first-ever Amateur Athletic Union gymnastics state champions – 11-year-old Mackenzie Hess and 13-year-old Kayleigh Wilson – are no strangers to adversity. In the three months since a Jan. 18 fire destroyed the warehouse housing their gym, Field of Dreams Gymnastics, and a dozen other tenants, the girls and their families have made the 45-minute […]

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Isle of Wight County Parks and Recreation held an April 18 ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the Born Learning Trail at Riverview Park in Smithfield recently launched in partnership with United Way of South Hampton Roads and the Luter Family YMCA. The trail aims to promote early literacy with 10 signs placed throughout the park highlighting […]

A glass case at the Isle of Wight County Museum that houses the world’s oldest ham is also now home to the last ham to bear the Genuine Smithfield brand. In January, Smithfield Foods stopped producing the brand-name Genuine Smithfield Hams that have become synonymous with the company’s namesake town. Three months later, the company […]

Isle of Wight County’s proposal to fund its share of state-mandated school employee raises, but none of the new positions Superintendent Theo Cramer has requested, could leave Isle of Wight County Schools with an insufficient number of employees to meet its staffing obligations under the Virginia Literacy Act, an IWCS document contends. County Administrator Randy […]

Jericho Road will be closed indefinitely from its intersection with South Church Street to the 18th century Windsor Castle manor house. The town of Smithfield announced the closure on April 17, citing emergency repairs. According to Town Manager Michael Stallings, a void was recently discovered under the roadway where it crosses Little Creek. “It appears […]

Virginia’s General Assembly on April 17 upheld Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s veto of legislation that would have authorized any city or county to raise its sales tax 1% by voter referendum to fund school construction. Only nine Virginia localities – Charlotte, Gloucester, Halifax, Henry, Mecklenburg, Northampton, Patrick and Pittsylvania counties and the city of Danville – […]

The Virginia Department of Transportation’s nearly two-year timeline for rehabilitating the Cypress Creek Bridge is one of the longest Isle of Wight County has seen in recent history, but what’s driving it? Since January, the circa-1975, 1,500-foot-long bridge that connects downtown Smithfield with the east end of town has been restricted to a single westbound […]

In addition to a 5-cent real estate tax rate increase, Isle of Wight County is proposing a roughly 5% hike of its water rate come the July 1 start of the 2024-25 fiscal year. Isle of Wight presently charges its water users a $33.14 bimonthly meter fee plus $12.35 per 1,000 gallons. The new rate […]

The Western Tidewater Free Clinic has named Jessica York of Isle of Wight County as its new director of development. York holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg. Prior to joining WTFC, Jessica served as executive director of Meals on Wheels and served as the Western Tidewater care […]

Thomas and Suzan Askew spent a weekend listening to the sound of “Ozzy” pining for “Sharon,” only to hear his frequent chirping go unanswered. They’re the names the Askews have given to two ospreys occupying a nest visible from the couple’s dock overlooking the east bank of the Pagan River. According to the Chesapeake Conservancy, […]