Accomac Shire was established in the

Colony of Virginia The Colony of Virginia was a British Empire, British colonial settlement in North America from 1606 to 1776. The first effort to create an English settlement in the area was chartered in 1584 and established in 1585; the resulting Roanoke Colo ...

by the

House of Burgesses The House of Burgesses () was the lower house of the Virginia General Assembly from 1619 to 1776. It existed during the colonial history of the United States in the Colony of Virginia in what was then British America. From 1642 to 1776, the Hou ...

in 1634 under the direction of King Charles I. It was one of the original eight

shires of Virginia The eight Shires of Virginia were formed in 1634 in the Virginia Colony. These shires were based on a form of local government used in England at the time, and were redesignated as counties a few years later. As of 2007, five of the eight origina ...

. The shire's name comes from the Native American word "Accawmack". In 1642, the name was changed to Northampton County by English colonists. In 1663, Northampton County was split into two counties that still exist. The northern two thirds took the original Accomac name, while the southern third remained as Northampton. In 1670, the Virginia Colony's Royal Governor William Berkeley abolished Accomac County, but 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, and the first elected legislative assembly in the New World. It was established on July 30, ...

re-created it in 1671. In 1940, the General Assembly officially added a "k" to the end of the county's name to arrive at its current spelling, which is Accomack County.

References

{{Reflist Virginia shires 1634 establishments in the Colony of Virginia Populated places established in 1634