About
In spring of 1607, Captain John Smith and his band of explorers landed at Cape Henry at the northern tip of what is now Virginia Beach.
The popularity of Virginia Beach's beach front, which according to the Guinness Book of Records is the largest pleasure beach in the world, extends to the present. Since the building of the boardwalk and the Cavalier Hotel in the late 1920s, the city has experienced tremendous growth both as a resort and as a center of industry for the East Coast. Before World War II, the total combined population of the city and county was fewer than 20,000 people. In 1963, by annexing adjacent Princess Anne County, a small resort community became a city of 125,000 people that had grown from an original 1,600 acres to 172,800 acres. With more land for development, Virginia Beach soon surpassed Norfolk as the region's most populated city. With a growth rate of nearly 50 percent between 1980 and 1990, Virginia Beach became the largest city in Virginia. While this explosive growth rate slowed the following decade, Virginia Beach remains the state's largest city.
Today the city of Virginia Beach combines the elegance of a rich past with the energy of one of the most rapidly developing cities on the East Coast. Among the attractions of the city are 30 miles of shoreline with 28 miles of public beach, state-of-the-art medical facilities, and the ever-changing beauty of its four moderate seasons. Civic leaders, working together to ensure that growth is orderly and sensitive to environmental concerns, have formulated and implemented strategic plans for land use, economic development, and education.