North Newport News , Virginia — The American South (Mid-Atlantic)
Potter’s Field
1893 - 1961
Photographed by Brandon D Cross
1. Potter’s Field Marker
This memorial was erected to recognize and preserve the final resting place of some 500 persons interred in a paulpers’ cemetery. Once part of the Warwick County poorhouse operation, since reduced to 4.5 acres. It was occupied between 1893 - 1935 by pesthouse barracks, and dining hall serving the community’s destitute and infirm. Until 1961, the unclaimed bodies of former inmates, pauper infants, victims of disease, criminals, and nameless indigents were buried here. Most were interred in simple pine coffins without the benefit of tombstones. Over the years, the site acquired the Biblical designation “Potter’s Field”, a reference to the lot purchased by the Pharises “To bury strangers in”. This monument was placed to insure that the graves of these departed souls remain forever consecrated.
by the Newport News City Council
Jessie M. Rattley
Mayor
Joe S. Frank, Vice Mayor • Flora D. Crittenden • Barry DuVal • William E. Fitzgerald • Margaret W. Keator • Donald N. Patten • Edgar E. Maroney, City Manager • Verbena M. Askew, City Attorney • Bernice I. Berry, City Clerk
Erected by the Newport News Historical Commission 1990
Erected 1990 by Newport News Historical Commission
this page online
Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Cemeteries & Burial Sites. A significant historical year for this entry is 1893.
Location. 37° 8.058′ N, 76° 32.71′ W. Marker is in Newport News, Virginia. It is in North Newport News. It is at the intersection of Potter's Lane and Warwick Boulevard (U.S. 60), on the left when traveling west on Potter's Lane. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 14747 Warwick Blvd, Newport News VA 23608, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is on Virginia’s Peninsula, in Hampton Roads, in Coastal Virginia, and in the Hampton Roads Metropolitan Area. It is also in the American South, specifically in the Upper South, and in the Tidewater. Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region, North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture, one of the original Thirteen Colonies, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Olivet Christian Church (approx. 0.3 miles away); Warwick Court House (approx. 0.3 miles away); The Courthouse Square (approx. 0.3 miles away); The Free State of Warwick (approx. 0.3 miles away); Warwick Courthouse (approx. 0.3 miles away); a different marker also named Warwick Courthouse (approx. 0.3 miles away); Bygone Days in Denbigh (approx. 0.4 miles away); Reflecting a Changing Society (approx. 0.4 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Newport News.
Also see . . . Potters Field. (Submitted on May 25, 2024, by Brandon D Cross of Flagler Beach, Florida.)
Photographed by Brandon D Cross
2. Potter’s Field Marker
Photographed by Brandon D Cross
3. Potter’s Field sign
Credits. This page was last revised on July 25, 2025. It was originally submitted on May 25, 2024, by Brandon D Cross of Flagler Beach, Florida. This page has been viewed 1,292 times since then and 140 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on May 25, 2024, by Brandon D Cross of Flagler Beach, Florida. • Bernard Fisher was the editor who published this page.
