Northern Neck - History

History

In the winter of 1607-08, Captain John Smith traveled up the Rappahannock River as a prisoner of the Powhatans. He was the first European known to have visited the Northern Neck.

The original Northern Neck land grant in 1661 was a land grant first contrived by the exiled English King Charles II in 1649. It encompassed all the lands bounded by the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers and, later, by a straight line (the "Fairfax Line") connecting their sources. This grant is significantly larger than the area currently known as the Northern Neck. The original grant was given to a proprietor. Semi-autonomy relative to the colonial government was provided by the proprietorial government until the American Revolution.

Most of the early development occurred on the eastern end of the peninsula where the Potomac and Rappahannock provided navigable waters. The autonomy and the excellent natural resources led the richest planters to establish tobacco plantations in the Northern Neck. Because of this influx of well-to-do planters, an aristocratic society grew earlier than in areas to the south. From this society, arose many leaders of the Revolution and the future young republic. These differences created strong antipathies between the regions. Later as the remainder of the mid-Atlantic states became developed, the importance of the Northern Neck would decline. It was relatively isolated from main trade routes and cities. This isolation may be a product of the earlier antipathies related to the differences in society in the Neck and in the regions further south.

In 1687 a widespread slave conspiracy was crushed in the Northern Neck. During a mass funeral, slaves in the area planned to kill all whites and escape. The plot was discovered and its leaders executed. When authorities learned that they had plotted the uprising at gatherings for slave funerals, they prohibited such events.

The next year, the Northern Neck was the site of another attempted uprising, this one led by "Sam, a Negro Servt to Richard Metcalfe." A repeat offender, he had "several times endeavored to promote a Negro Insurreccon in this Colony." "To deter him & others from the like evil practice for time to come," the court ordered the sheriff of James City County to whip him severely, and return him to the Westmoreland County sheriff to be whipped again. Sam was sentenced to forever wear "a strong Iron collar affixed about his neck with four sprigs." Should he leave his master's plantation or remove the collar, he would be hanged.

Many important historical figures were born on the Northern Neck, including U.S. presidents George Washington (Westmoreland), James Madison (Port Conway in King George), and James Monroe (Westmoreland), as well as signers of the Declaration of Independence, Francis Lightfoot Lee and Richard Henry Lee, and the Confederate Civil War general Robert E. Lee. Richard Henry Lee was elected as the sixth President under the Articles of Confederation. Also residing in Westmoreland was Colonel Nicholas Spencer, member of the House of Burgesses, secretary and president of the Governor's Council, and on the departure of his cousin Thomas Colepeper, 2nd Baron Colepeper (aka Lord Culpeper), acting Governor.

Mixed vegetable and grain farming were adopted by the later colonial period. During the Colonial period, the Northern Neck was referred to as the "Athens of the New World" because of its collection of rich landowners dedicated to learning, gentlemanly society, and civic duty. They based their elite society on the exploitation of slave labor by Africans and African Americans.

The area later developed a strong seafood industry. Reedville claims to have once been the wealthiest town in the United States, due to its menhaden fishing industry. Before the era of modern highways, many passenger and freight steamer routes linked the Chesapeake Bay region and connected with the railroads developed after 1830.

During the American Civil War, Northern Neck and in particularly King George County were on the frontier between the Union and Confederate armies. As such, King George was an operating base for spies on both sides. The Union forces controlled the Potomac River and the north shore of the Rappahannock River further upstream for much of the war.

While trying to elude Union cavalry, on April 21, 1865, the co-conspirators John Wilkes Booth and David Herold crossed into the Northern Neck in King George County from Maryland after assassinating US president Abraham Lincoln. Booth and Herold landed at the mouth of Gambo Creek before meeting with Confederate agents, who guided their passage to Port Conway. There, they crossed the Rappahannock River to Port Royal in Caroline County. Booth was killed and Herold captured a short distance away at Garrett's Farm.

Colonial Beach, a small incorporated town in Westmoreland County located on the Potomac River waterfront, developed as a popular tourist spot for the people of the Washington area in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It offered a beach, swimming, and gambling. The gambling facilities were built on piers extending into the Potomac River to ensure they were inside Maryland, as the state border runs along the southern low tide line of the Potomac River. With the end of gambling, Colonial Beach declined in popularity as a tourist destination. It and the rest of the Northern Neck still continue to attract dedicated outdoor enthusiasts for fishing and boating. Monroe Point is a new waterfront townhome community in Colonial Beach offering a private marina and a one mile-long nature trail.