Lost Counties of Virginia on the mouth of the James River

Norfolk County was a county of the

South Hampton Roads South Hampton Roads is a region located in the extreme southeastern portion of Virginia's Tidewater region in the United States with a total population of 1,191,937. It is part of the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC MSA (Metropolitan S ...

in eastern

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

that was created in 1691. After the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

, for a period of about 100 years, portions of Norfolk County were lost and the territory of the county reduced as they were annexed by the independent and growing cities of

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nor ...

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most d ...

and

South Norfolk South Norfolk is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Norfolk, England. Its council is based in Long Stratton. The population of the Local Authority District was 124,012 as taken at the United Kingdom census, 2011, 2011 ...

. In 1963, voters approved by referendum in two jurisdictions to consolidate the remaining portions of Norfolk County with the much smaller city of South Norfolk; they chose the name city of Chesapeake for the new independent city. Although organized as a city, and one of the larger in Virginia, Chesapeake has both busy suburban and industrial areas, and mostly rural sections. The latter includes a large portion of the Great Dismal Swamp and large tracts of preserved forest land.

Shires to counties 1634-1691

During the 17th century, shortly after establishment of the Jamestown Settlement in 1607, English settlers explored and began settling the areas adjacent to what is known as

Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is the name of both a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James, Nansemond and Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's Point where the Chesapeake Bay flows into the Atlantic ...

. By 1634, the English colony of Virginia consisted of eight

shire Shire is a traditional term for an administrative division of land in Great Britain and some other English-speaking countries such as Australia and New Zealand. It is generally synonymous with county. It was first used in Wessex from the begin ...

s or

counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

with a total population of approximately 5,000 inhabitants. One of these was Elizabeth City Shire, which included an area on both sides of Hampton Roads. The northern portion became Elizabeth City County in 1643. It is now incorporated into the city limits of Hampton. In 1636 the southern portion of Elizabeth City Shire became New Norfolk County by order of King

Charles I of England Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. He was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of Scotland, but after ...

. This area was divided again in 1637 into Upper and Lower Norfolk counties.

1691 Norfolk County created: Adam Thoroughgood

In 1691 Lower Norfolk County was in turn divided in two to form Norfolk and

Princess Anne Anne, Princess Royal (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born 15 August 1950), is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the only sister of ...

counties to accommodate settlement. Captain Adam Thoroughgood (1604–1640) is credited with naming Norfolk County. Thoroughgood was a prominent resident of the colony. Like so many others at that time, he had been born in England and immigrated to Virginia. He named the new county after his original "home" county across the Atlantic Ocean. After 1691, Norfolk County remained more or less intact for over 200 years.

became the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US ...

and a major area of commerce, along with

. Smaller towns were formed at Berkley and

. In 1871, Portsmouth and Norfolk became independent cities, a jurisdiction in Virginia, and separated from Norfolk County, though Portsmouth remained the county seat. South Norfolk became an independent city in 1919. In the following years, the county lost additional territory. The

incorporated town An incorporated town is a town that is a municipal corporation. Canada Incorporated towns are a form of local government in Canada, which is a responsibility of provincial rather than federal government. United Kingdom United States An in ...

of Berkley as well as the areas of

Sewell's Point Sewells Point is a peninsula of land in the independent city of Norfolk, Virginia in the United States, located at the mouth of the salt-water port of Hampton Roads. Sewells Point is bordered by water on three sides, with Willoughby Bay to t ...

, Willoughby Spit, and Ocean View were annexed successively by Norfolk. By 1960, the entire area of Norfolk County on the east side of the Elizabeth River north of Virginia Beach Boulevard had been annexed by other jurisdictions. On other sides, West Norfolk (Churchland) was lost to Portsmouth, and South Norfolk had also annexed a portion of the county.

1963: Creating a new city, Chesapeake

In Virginia, cities are immune from annexation by each other. In the early 1960s, the most recent attempt by the City of Norfolk to annex another portion of Norfolk County threatened to completely surround the tiny City of South Norfolk. That failed annexation would have threatened South Norfolk's viability as an independent entity. Since Norfolk County residents also feared future annexation suits, in this battle of municipalities, the residents of Norfolk County and the city of South Norfolk became allies. A strategy successfully used about 10 years earlier by Elizabeth City County, the Town of Phoebus, and the City of Hampton offered a solution. In 1963, after a referendum of South Norfolk and of Norfolk County's voters, and the approval of the

Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World, and was established on July 30, 16 ...

, South Norfolk and almost all of remaining Norfolk County consolidated and reorganized as the new City of Chesapeake, with the name chosen by the voters.

References

External links

City of Chesapeake
*{{cite EB1911 , wstitle=Norfolk (Virginia) , display=Norfolk , volume=19 , page=747 , short=1 Former counties of Virginia History of Norfolk, Virginia Geography of Chesapeake, Virginia

Shires to counties 1634-1691

1691 Norfolk County created: Adam Thoroughgood

1963: Creating a new city, Chesapeake

See also

References

External links