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Virginia Counties

The Commonwealth of Virginia is divided into 95 counties and 39 independent cities, which are considered county-equivalents for census purposes.

Northampton County, Virginia

Northampton County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Eastville
Year Organized: 1634
Square Miles: 207

Court House:

P.O. Box 66
County Courthouse
Eastville, VA 23347-0066

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Northampton is probably named for the English county of Northampton.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

Northampton County, Virginia formed from Accawmack (Accomack) County (name change only). Legislative enactment in 1642. Organized in 1643. [Virginia Counties: Those Resulting from Virginia Legislation, by Morgan Poitiaux Robinson, originally published as Bulletin of the Virginia State Library, Volume 9, January, April, July 1916, reprinted 1992 by Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, MD.]

Northampton County probably was named for the English county, of which Obedience Robins, a prominent early resident of the Eastern Shore, was a native. The county, which originally included all of the peninsula south of Maryland and which was one of the eight shires established in 1694, was first called Accawmack. The name was changed by legislative action in 1643. The area is 357 square miles, and the county seat is Eastville.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 795 square miles (2,060 km²), of which, 207 square miles (537 km²) of it is land and 588 square miles (1,523 km²) of it (73.93%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Accomack County, VA to the north

Cities and Towns:

- Cape Charles	town	Incorporated Area
- Cheriton	town	Incorporated Area
- Eastville (County Seat)	town	Incorporated Area
- Exmore	town	Incorporated Area
- Nassawadox	town	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resource Guide

Counties: US Map

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of our country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."

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