Gloucester Point, a peninsula that extends into the York River opposite Yorktown, was settled from the early 17th century. Known variously as Tyndall’s Point and Gloucester Town, it was a port city in the colonial era. Its strategic location made it an important site for fortifications during both the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries a small community developed there which included single-family homes and a small number of commercial buildings. A ferry service connected the community to Yorktown. In the 1950's the completion of the Coleman Bridge across the York River and the relocation of what is now the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) to the peninsula gradually changed the character of the community.
Between 2011 and 2025 Hanbury Preservation Consulting completed five architectural survey and documentation projects in collaboration with the William and Mary Center for Archaeological Research for resources owned by VIMS. In some cases, surveyed resources were buildings that predated VIMS’s arrival including several early 20th century homes and the Bank of Gloucester building. As the campus has grown and modernized, documentation of buildings such as the 1972 oyster hatchery and the 1950 Maury Hall have been completed in anticipation of demolition and redevelopment.