The history of Gloucester County, named for Henry, Duke of Gloucester, third son of Charles I, began soon after the settlement of Jamestown in 1607. When English settlers arrived at Jamestown in 1607, the Indian stronghold of Chief Powhatan was located on the north side of the river in Gloucester. Early land patents were granted in 1639, but it was not until after 1644 that Gloucester was considered safe for settlement. George Washington's great grandfather received a Gloucester County land patent in 1650. Gloucester County was formed from York County in 1651, and consisted of four parishes: Abingdon, Kingston, Petsworth and Ware. In the 1600's and 1700's, Gloucester was a tobacco producing area, and many old plantation homes and magnificent private estates remain today in perfect condition.
Settled in the mid-1600's, Lancaster County is located at the southeastern tip of Virginia's Northern Neck peninsula. The courthouse holds county records maintained virtually intact since 1652. Besides Lancaster courthouse, the towns of Kilmarnock, Irvington and White Stone offer interesting diversions.
With its earliest English settlement in 1650, Mathews County is rich in historical landmarks: buildings, churches, estates, gravesites, cemeteries. In 1776, the last of Virginia's Royal Governors, Lord Dunmore, was driven from the colony's shores by Continental cannons at Cricket Hill across from Gwynn's Island.
Kingston Parish in Gloucester County was created circa 1651; only in 1791 was the parish designated as a separate county by the Virginia General Assembly. Mathews County, named for General Thomas Mathews of Norfolk, a prominent American Revolutionary War officer, has a courthouse in use today that dates to circa 1795. Mathews also has The Tabernacle, one of the last remaining outdoor pavilions for religious use. The county was an important shipbuilding center in the early 1800s. Captain Sally Tompkins, the only woman to serve as a commissioned officer in the Confederate Army, was born here at Poplar Grove. With only 94 square miles of land, Mathews is one of the smallest of Virginia's counties, but it has some 200 miles of coastline.
Lying along the Rappahannock River at its mouth, with the Dragon Run and Piankatank River on its opposite (southern) border, Middlesex life is that of Rivah Country. Urbanna, a 1600s tobacco port, is its only incorporated town; Deltaville is its other commercial center, and both are paradise for boaters. Deltaville's Maritime Museum and Holly Point Nature Park are well worth a visit, and host a number of family events. The courthouse town of Saluda, just off Route 17, has good genealogy records and the county museum. Topping, near the bridge to the Northern Neck, is the home of Hummel Field Airport. Route 33 is the main road through half the county - until it ends at the Chesapeake Bay. Route 3 crosses Route 33 at two points: the leg connecting to the Northern Neck comes in about 3 miles west of the leg connecting to Mathews and Gloucester.
Formed in 1648, the "Mother County" of the Northern Neck has since ceded land to the newer counties of Lancaster, Richmond and Westmoreland. It retains 222 square miles with a population of some 12,000 today. Reedville, Callao, Heathsville and Wicomico Church are all in Northumberland. The county offers seven public boat ramps, giving access to the Great Wicomico and Coan Rivers as well as Cockrell's Creek.