Watermen, Steamboats, and Oyster Houses

Simply put, it’s water country! Lancaster County, Virginia boasts a shoreline of 330 miles along its contiguous waterfront with the Potomac River, the Rappahannock River, the Corrotoman River, and the Chesapeake Bay.

The Northern Neck of Virginia is the northernmost of three peninsulas, traditionally called “necks” in Virginia that extend along the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. The Potomac River forms the northern boundary of the peninsula, and the Rappahannock River flows to the south. The York River and the James River surround the other two peninsulas, ie., the Middle Peninsula (Matthews/Gloucester) and the Virginia Peninsula (Newport News), also referred to as the Tidewater area.

400 years of history! This is the land you read about in your academic history class that is related to the founding of America. But its actual location was likely never glued onto your conscience.

This is the land where the original European Colonialists arrived in the early 1600s to soon create the settlements of Jamestown and Williamsburg. It’s the land encompassing the adventures of Capt. John Smith and Pocahontas; the land of Blackbeard the Pirate and other subsequent rascals who terrorized these waters for nearly 100 years! This is also the region where the first groups of slaves were delivered to an unfathomable existence.

Virginia’s complex colonial society served as an incubator for the American Revolution and is why the Northern Neck has been called the “Birthplace of the Nation.” Here is where three of the first five presidents were born (George Washington, James Madison, and James Monroe).