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A century ago, Gloucester and Mathews counties stood at a transportation crossroads

Hundreds of visitors from Newport News came to Gloucester Court House for speeches and other festivities in April 1920.

Comfortable old ways and modern new ones collided 100 years ago in Gloucester and Mathews counties. At the time, perhaps no one knew what was going to happen, but the good news in one county and the bad news in the other heralded the arrival of a new era in transportation.

In early April, Gloucester County entertained a delegation of 300 merchants and other visitors from Newport News, who drove their automobiles to Yorktown, took the ferry to Gloucester Point, and came up the main highway, still unpaved, to Gloucester Court House where they congregated for speeches and back-slapping.Good news

The Gloucester Gazette of April 8, 1920 reported that “Monday was a gala day in Gloucester and Newport News and we venture to assert that both city and county will benefit from visits of the Newport News folks … the meeting boosted the mail truck route project.”

The ...

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