Gloucester County, Virginia
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Gloucester County ( ) is a
county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...
in the
Commonwealth of Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
. As of the 2020 census, the population was 38,711. Its
county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
is Gloucester Courthouse. The county was founded in 1651 in the
Virginia Colony The Colony of Virginia was a 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 Colony lasted for t ...
and is named for
Henry Stuart, Duke of Gloucester Henry Stuart, Duke of Gloucester (8 July 164013 September 1660) was the youngest son of Charles I, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and his wife, Henrietta Maria of France. He is also known as Henry of Oatlands. From the age of two, Henr ...
(third son of King
Charles I of England Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland from 27 March 1625 until Execution of Charles I, his execution in 1649. Charles was born ...
). Gloucester County is included in the
Virginia Beach Virginia Beach (colloquially VB) is the List of cities in Virginia, most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. The city is located on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in southeaster ...
Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...
Newport News, VA– NC Metropolitan Statistical Area. Located at the east end of the lower part of the Middle Peninsula, it is bordered on the south by the York River and the lower
Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula, including parts of the Ea ...
on the east. The waterways shaped its development. Gloucester County is about east of Virginia's capital, Richmond. Werowocomoco, capital of the large and powerful Powhatan Confederacy (a union of 30 indigenous tribes under a
paramount chief A paramount chief is the English-language designation for a king or queen or the highest-level political leader in a regional or local polity or country administered politically with a Chiefdom, chief-based system. This term is used occasionally ...
), was located on this part of the peninsula. In 2003 archeologists established that dense village had been located at this site from AD 1200 to the early 17th century. The county was developed by colonists primarily for tobacco plantations, based on the labor of enslaved Africans imported in the slave trade. Tobacco was one of the first commodity crops but fishing also developed as an important industry. The county was home to numerous planters who were among the
First Families of Virginia The First Families of Virginia, or FFV, are a group of early settler families who became a socially and politically dominant group in the British Colony of Virginia and later the Commonwealth of Virginia. They descend from European colonists who ...
and leaders before the
American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
.
Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...
wrote early works for Virginia and colonial independence while staying at Rosewell Plantation, home of John Page (his close friend and fellow student at the
College of William and Mary The College of William & Mary (abbreviated as W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1693 under a royal charter issued by King William III and Queen Mary II, it is the second-oldest instit ...
). Gloucester County is rich in farmland. Its fishing industry is important to the state as well. It has a retail center located around the main street area of the
county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
. Gloucester County and adjacent York County are linked by the George P. Coleman Memorial Bridge, a toll facility across the York River carrying U.S. Route 17 to the Virginia Peninsula area. Gloucester County is self-nicknamed the " Daffodil Capital of the World"; it hosts an annual daffodil festival, parade and flower show.


History


Prehistoric

This area was inhabited for thousands of years by successive cultures of
hunter-gatherer A hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living in a community, or according to an ancestrally derived Lifestyle, lifestyle, in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local naturally occurring sources, esp ...
Indian peoples; artifacts have been dated to at least the late
Woodland Period In the classification of :category:Archaeological cultures of North America, archaeological cultures of North America, the Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures spanned a period from roughly 1000 BC to European contact i ...
(c. AD 1000). An important village site known as Werowocomoco was occupied by c. AD 1200 by the Algonquian-speaking peoples of the numerous emerging tribes in the area. Before the late 16th century, the Powhatan Confederacy had been formed. It was made up of an estimated 30 tribes in the coastal region, who spoke distinct but related languages, and was led by a paramount chief, known as the Powhatan. The Powhatan Confederacy was estimated to total 12,000 to 15,000 people across the coastal region of present-day Virginia. Werowocomoco was the stronghold and capital of this confederacy, located on the north side of the York River in what is now Gloucester. This complex, stratified society had developed in part due to the cultivation and processing by women of varieties of maize,
beans A bean is the seed of some plants in the legume family (Fabaceae) used as a vegetable for human consumption or animal feed. The seeds are often preserved through drying (a ''pulse''), but fresh beans are also sold. Dried beans are tradition ...
and squash. With these crops, the women produced a surplus that, together with the game and fish collected by the men, supported a dense population in a number of settlements. The people also gathered nuts, berries and other foods of the region.


European colonists

Around 1570, Spanish
Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
s attempted to establish what was known as the Ajacan Mission on the south shore of the York River across from Gloucester. They were killed by natives led by a Christian convert named Don Luis, who was affiliated with a village known as Chiskiack ( Naval Weapons Station Yorktown much later was developed at this site in present-day York County; the historic village site has been preserved.) When English settlers founded Jamestown in 1607 on the James River to the north, they soon came into conflict with local Indians. The newcomers competed for land, game and other resources in the Powhatan territory, and the two cultures did not understand each other's concepts of property, particularly in land use. In late 1607, John Smith was captured and taken to
Chief Powhatan Powhatan (), whose proper name was Wahunsenacawh (alternately spelled Wahunsenacah, Wahunsunacock, or Wahunsonacock), was the leader of the Powhatan, an alliance of Algonquian-speaking Native Americans living in Tsenacommacah, in the Tidewat ...
at Werowocomoco, his eastern capital. According to legend, Powhatan's daughter
Pocahontas Pocahontas (, ; born Amonute, also known as Matoaka and Rebecca Rolfe; 1596 – March 1617) was a Native American woman belonging to the Powhatan people, notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. S ...
saved John Smith from being executed by the natives; however, some historians question the accuracy of much of Smith's account of that incident. Smith was accompanied by other Englishmen when he returned in a later visit to the Powhatan at Werowocomoco.


Lost site of Werowocomoco

After the Powhatan moved their capital to a safer, inland location and abandoned the village around 1609, knowledge of this site was lost. Researchers later tried to identify it by Smith's historic writings. The current site of
West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...
seemed to offer a clue to its location; from there, Smith had noted the distance downstream to Werowocomoco. Based upon his description, at one time scholars thought the former capital was located near Wicomico (site of Powhatan's Chimney), about southeast of present-day West Point. Smith also noted that Jamestown was from Werowocomoco "as the crow flies." Using that measure, the site near Wicomico is about 12 miles from Jamestown. In 1977,
archeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes. Archaeol ...
Daniel Mouer of
Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a Public university, public research university in Richmond, Virginia, United States. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virgin ...
identified a site on Purtan Bay as the possible location of Werowocomoco; it was also about 12 miles from Jamestown. He was able to collect artifacts from the surface of plowed fields and along the beach, but the landowner did not want any excavation. Mouer found fragments of Indian
ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porce ...
dating to the Late
Woodland Period In the classification of :category:Archaeological cultures of North America, archaeological cultures of North America, the Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures spanned a period from roughly 1000 BC to European contact i ...
and determined that the area was the possible site of Werowocomoco. More than 20 years later, a different landowner authorized
archaeological excavation In archaeology, excavation is the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. An excavation site or "dig" is the area being studied. These locations range from one to several areas at a time during a project and can be condu ...
on the property. Between March 2002 and April 2003, the Werowocomoco Research Group conducted excavations and analysis at the Werowocomoco site. The research group is a collaborative effort of the
College of William and Mary The College of William & Mary (abbreviated as W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1693 under a royal charter issued by King William III and Queen Mary II, it is the second-oldest instit ...
, the
Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
, and Virginia tribes descended from the Powhatan Confederacy. Initial testing included digging 603 test holes deep and apart. They found thousands of artifacts, including a blue bead which may have been made in Europe for trading. Combined with the historical descriptions by English colonists of Werowocomoco, researchers believe these discoveries have established the site of the ancient capital. "We believe we have sufficient evidence to confirm that the property is indeed the village of Werowocomoco," said Randolph Turner, director of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources' Portsmouth Regional Office in 2003. Two Gloucester-based archaeologists, Thane Harpole and David Brown, have worked at the site since 2002 and continue to participate in the excavations. Archeologists have discovered a dispersed village community occupying the site from AD 1200 through the early 17th century. They recovered artifacts (including native
pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...
and stone tools), as well as floral and faunal food remains from the large residential community. The research group has also recovered English trade goods produced from glass, copper, and other metals originating in Jamestown. The colonists' accounts of interaction at Werowocomoco during the early days of Jamestown emphasized Powhatan's interests in acquiring English objects (particularly copper, which the Indians used to create their own ''objets d'art''. The project is noted for the researchers' consultation and collaboration with members of the local Indian tribes – the
Mattaponi The Mattaponi () tribe is one of only two Virginia Indian tribes in the Commonwealth of Virginia that owns reservation land, which it has held since the colonial era. The larger Mattaponi Indian Tribe lives in King William County on the rese ...
and Pamunkey, descendants of the Powhatan Confederacy. Such archeological sites often contain burials and associated sacred artifacts important to these tribes: Gloucester County has celebrated Werowocomoco and other Powhatan-heritage sites as part of the county's history. Both the newly identified site on Purtan Bay and Powhatan's Chimney at Wicomico are within the territory which Indians have considered as part of Werowocomoco. In the Algonquian language, the "village" of the chief was not defined as a small place, but the term referred to "the lands" where he lived. The custom of the Powhatan tribes was to relocate their villages within a general area to allow lands to recover from cultivation or move to better sources of water and game.


English developments

In 1619, the Virginia Company divided its developed areas into four incorporations, called "citties" . At that time, most of the area which became Gloucester County would have been considered part of "James Cittie" (although it was not yet settled). In 1634, by order of King Charles I the colony was divided into the eight shires of Virginia. First named Charles River Shire by the English, York County was renamed in 1642 during the
English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...
. The Pamunkey called the river of their territory "Pamunkey"; residents retained that name for the portion upstream from West Point. The English first named the major river the Charles River; during the English Civil War, it was renamed as the York River). The colonial government granted early land patents in the area in 1639, but it was not until after 1644 that Gloucester was considered safe for settlement.Gloucester County, Virginia, ''History of Gloucester County'' (http://www.gloucesterva.info/151/History-of-Gloucester-County : accessed April 8, 2019). By that time, Algonquian peoples had been pushed out of the area by colonists after many died in epidemics of infectious diseases. They had no immunity to the new diseases carried by the Europeans.
George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...
's great-grandfather received a Gloucester County land patent in 1650.


Gloucester County formation and divisions

Gloucester County was formed from York County in 1651. No legislative enactment has been found for its formation. Gloucester County consisted of four parishes: Abingdon, Kingston, Petsworth and Ware. It was named for
Henry Stuart, Duke of Gloucester Henry Stuart, Duke of Gloucester (8 July 164013 September 1660) was the youngest son of Charles I, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and his wife, Henrietta Maria of France. He is also known as Henry of Oatlands. From the age of two, Henr ...
, third son of Charles I. Gloucester County figured prominently in the history of the colony and the Commonwealth of Virginia. Kingston parish was renamed as Mathews County in 1791, after the American Revolutionary War and independence of the United States. The remaining three parishes were retained in Gloucester; the county was split on what is now the eastern county line.


Plantations and historic sites

During the 17th and 18th centuries, Gloucester was developed as a major
tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
-producing area; this was the chief commodity crop and the basis of the wealth of major planters. Many of the old plantation houses and private estates have been preserved in good condition. These establishments are periodically open to public visitation during Historic Garden Week. Examples of colonial architecture are the Episcopal churches of Ware (1690) and Abingdon (1755), where Presidents Washington and Jefferson worshiped. Some early colonial buildings at the county seat on Courthouse Green continue to be used for public purposes. During the 17th century, the tip of land protruding into the York River was named Tyndall's Point by Robert Tyndall, mapmaker for
Captain John Smith John Smith ( – 21 June 1631) was an English soldier, explorer, colonial governor, admiral of New England, and author. He was knighted for his services to Sigismund Báthory, Prince of Transylvania, and his friend Mózes Székely. Followin ...
. In 1667, colonists built fortifications there, at what was then called Gloucester Point. These defenses were rebuilt and strengthened many times from the colonial period through the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
. This site is also known for the "Second Surrender" by General Lord Charles Cornwallis to General
George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...
at Yorktown.


Guinea

One area of Gloucester County is known as Guinea; it includes the unincorporated communities of Achilles, Maryus, Perrin, Severn, and Big Island. Located near Gloucester Point, the area has been the center of the county's seafood industry. (The Atwell,Shackelford, Rowe, West, Jenkins, Green, Kellum, King and Belvin families are chief among those who have worked in the fishing industry here). Although the industry has declined, it remains a cultural core of the community. The fishermen are known locally as "Guineamen". They speak a distinct form of
non-rhotic The distinction between rhoticity and non-rhoticity is one of the most prominent ways in which varieties of the English language are classified. In rhotic accents, the sound of the historical English rhotic consonant, , is preserved in all p ...
, Southern English. The name "Guinea" is of uncertain origin. Residents in this area have been referred to as "Guineamen" at least since 1730. As noted by George Dow in 1969, London physician George Pinckard referred to the master of a ship containing slaves from the
Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...
coast as a "Guinea Man" in letters dating 1795. It is likely this area was called Guinea after being used as a landing site for importation of slaves from that area. Another story, passed among the "Guineamen" is that people on the Guinea Neck were continuing to use golden
Guineas The guinea (; commonly abbreviated gn., or gns. in plural) was a coin, minted in Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from the Guinea region in West Africa, from where m ...
to pay for things up from about 1781–1860, the start of the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
. At one time, the name was thought to have derived from the period of the American Revolutionary War. Loyalists quartered Hessian
mercenaries A mercenary is a private individual who joins an War, armed conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official military. Mercenaries fight for money or other forms of payment rath ...
here who were attached to Cornwallis' army; they were paid one guinea per day. The Hessians were thought to have occupied lower Gloucester during the closing days of the Revolutionary War, or to have settled here after deserting the British. Cornwallis sent British troops and cavalry to occupy Gloucester in October 1781; Hessians may have been a part of that contingent due to Gloucester's strategic importance at the mouth of the York River.


Daffodils

The history of the daffodil in Gloucester County is nearly as old as the county. When Gloucester was formed in 1651 from part of York County, early settlers brought daffodils from England. Settlers soon discovered the soil and weather conditions were good for them. The bulbs were passed from neighbor to neighbor, naturalizing by the beginning of the 20th century. The daffodil industry (which earned the county the title "Daffodil Capital of America") developed during the 1930s and 1940s. Today, the county's daffodils are celebrated every year with the annual "Daffodil Festival". The whole county comes out during the first weekend in April to celebrate the county's history. \.


Modern day

Gloucester is a growing and increasingly changing county that is an integral part of the
Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James River, James, Nansemond River, Nansemond, and Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's Point near whe ...
metropolitan area. Growth in the Peninsula area has encouraged development in the Gloucester Point and the
Courthouse A courthouse or court house is a structure which houses judicial functions for a governmental entity such as a state, region, province, county, prefecture, regency, or similar governmental unit. A courthouse is home to one or more courtrooms, ...
regions of Gloucester. Gloucester's Main Street and U.S. Route 17 have served as vital corridors of commercial and community growth in the county. Between 1970 and 2000, the county's population grew by over 60% and this additional influx of new residents encouraged mass commercial and residential development, and subsequently has become an important commercial center for the Middle Peninsula, upper
Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James River, James, Nansemond River, Nansemond, and Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's Point near whe ...
, and the Northern Neck areas. Canon Virginia has a recycling facility in the White Marsh area of the county, which processes old printer cartridges and recycle their parts for new cartridges. Peace Frogs, based near Gloucester Courthouse is an apparel brand that makes a full line of apparel and accessories sporting frog designs. The Virginia Institute of Marine Science is based in Gloucester Point. VIMS is the
College of William & Mary The College of William & Mary (abbreviated as W&M) is a public university, public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1693 under a royal charter issued by King William III of England, William III and Queen ...
's Marine Science post-graduate school. Despite an influx in development, Gloucester still maintains a large amount of rural and farmland (especially in the northern end of the county) which contributes to the county's rich agricultural tradition. Gloucester County's Comprehensive Plan cites both Gloucester Point and Gloucester Courthouse as development districts.


Parks and recreation

Gloucester County is home to an assortment of parks with a diverse array of activities available.


Abingdon Park

Abingdon Park is a small park located next to Abingdon Elementary on Powhatan Drive in Hayes. Facilities include picnic area, soccer field, softball field, picnic shelter, and restrooms.


Ark Park

Ark Park is a medium-sized park located off of US Route 17 near the small community of Ark. Facilities include a basketball court, playground, soccer field, softball field, and restrooms.


Beaverdam Park

Beaverdam Park is a large park with many trails, located on a reservoir. Hiking, bicycling, boating, fishing, horseback riding and picnicking are available. The Whitcomb Lodge may be leased for special events. The park is home to a collection of geocaches hidden near the trails surrounding the reservoir. Small boats are available for rental, and non-gasoline-powered craft may be launched for a nominal fee. File:Gloucester va beaverdam reservoir 2.jpg, Near sunset. File:Gloucester va beaverdam reservoir 3.jpg, Another shot near sunset.


Brown Park

Brown Park is a small skate park located on Foster Road off of Route 14 near Gloucester Courthouse. The park currently only features skateboarding facilities; however, the Parks and Rec department eventually wants to add disc golf and dog park facilities.


Gloucester Point Beach Park

Situated on the York River adjacent to the VIMS campus, Gloucester Point Beach Park is a small park consisting of a beach, fishing dock, playground, and boat landing. In addition, there are bathrooms on site and a concession stand operated by an independent business that is open during the summer months.


Tyndall's Point Park

Located in Gloucester Point, Tyndall's Point Park was the site of a fort set up by the English in the 1660s to protect the area in case of invasion by Holland. In addition, this location was used as a fort during the Revolutionary War and the Civil War.


Woodville Park

Woodville Park is a large park with walking trails, athletic fields, and a memorial garden. Facilities available include soccer fields, sand soccer, sand volleyball, a memorial garden, a community garden, and a pond. Woodville is the newest park in Gloucester County and some areas are still under development.


Tourism


Battle of the Hook reenactment

On October 17–19, 2008, some 2,000 Revolutionary War re-enactors were scheduled to converge on Warner Hall in Gloucester County to commemorate the defeat of Banastre Tarleton and his British legion by the Duc de Lauzun's legion and Mercer's battalion of Virginia militia grenadiers. The Battle of the Hook cut off Cornwallis's supplies and escape forcing his surrender on October 19, 1781. One hour after the surrender at Yorktown, British and Hessian forces in Gloucester surrendered.


Daffodil Festival

The Gloucester Daffodil Festival is held annually. Many visitors visit Gloucester for its notorious local Ice Cream shoppe and Antique Mall


Historic sites

* Warner Hall: the home of the paternal grandmother of George Washington (now operating as a
bed and breakfast A bed and breakfast (typically shortened to B&B or BnB) is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast. In addition, a B&B sometimes has the hosts living in the house. ''Bed and breakfast'' is also used to ...
) * Rosewell: Home of John Page, a friend of
Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...


VIMS

The Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) is the graduate school in marine science for the
College of William and Mary The College of William & Mary (abbreviated as W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1693 under a royal charter issued by King William III and Queen Mary II, it is the second-oldest instit ...
(the country's second-oldest university), which is headquartered in nearby Williamsburg. VIMS is located at Gloucester Point along the county's shorefront, where samples and measurements for Chesapeake Bay are taken and specimens put on display. The institute's annual Marine Science Day attracts many visitors.


Education

Gloucester County Public Schools is the Virginia public school division serving the county. It comprises nine public schools: five elementary (grades K-5), two intermediate (grades 6–7, grades 8) and one high school (grades 9–12).


Elementary schools

The five schools are: * Abingdon * Achilles * Bethel * Botetourt * Petsworth Classes of about 20 students are assigned to a teacher for an academic year.


Middle schools

The middle schools (Peasley and Page) have block scheduling and teams (a division of the grade). Page Middle School was damaged by a tornado on April 16, 2011, which destroyed most of the eighth-grade wing. It has since been demolished, with students relocated to temporary classrooms on the high-school campus. In 2015 a new school was built across the street from the old location.


High school

Gloucester High School (GHS) is in the process of being renovated. Its mascot is a Duke.


Gloucester Courthouse

Gloucester Courthouse has a main street with three courthouses, one of which is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
. Main Street includes a large selection of restaurants and retail merchants. There is also an elementary school run by Gloucester County Public Schools, Botetourt Elementary located on Main Street. The county is renovating the town's sidewalk system. The annual daffodil parade proceeds along Main Street.


Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (24.4%) is water.


Adjacent counties

* Middlesex County – north * Mathews County – east * York County – south * James City County – southwest * King and Queen County – west


Major highways

* * * * * * *


Demographics


2020 census


2010 Census

As of the 2010 census there were 36,858 people in 15,663 households, with 9,884 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 14,494 housing units, with an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 87.2%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 8.7%
African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 0.4% Native American, 0.8% Asian, 0.0%
Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
, 0.6% other races and 2.3% of two (or more) races. 2.5% of the population was
Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or Latino. In 2000, there were 13,127 households, of which 35.20 percent had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.40 percent were married couples living together, 9.90 percent had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.70 percent were non-families. 20.30 percent of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.20 percent had someone living alone aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.62, and the average family size was 3.02. In the county, the population age was well-distributed, with 26.20 percent under age 18, 6.80 percent from 18 to 24, 30.40 percent from 25 to 44, 24.80 percent from 45 to 64, and 11.80 percent who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.50 males. For every 100 females aged 18 and over, there were 92.90 males. There are 556 cats that roam the wild. The median income for a household in the county was $45,421, and the median income for a family was $48,760. Males had a median income of $35,838, versus $24,325 for females. The per-capita income for the county was $19,990. About 6.80 percent of families and 8.70 percent of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.70 percent of those under age 18 and 8.50 percent of those age 65 or over.


Ethnicity

As of 2016 the largest self-identified ancestries/ethnicities in Gloucester county are: * English – 21.6% * German – 14.0% * Irish – 12.7% * American – 10.4% * Italian – 5.4% * Scots-Irish – 2.6%


Economy

Below is a listing of the largest employers in Gloucester County according to a report published by the Virginia Employment Commission: *


Government


Board of Supervisors

* At-Large: Ashley C. Chriscoe (R) * At-Large: Kevin Smith (I) * Abingdon District: Robert J. "JJ" Orth (I) * Gloucester Point District: C.A. "Chris" Hutson (R) * Petsworth District: Kenneth W. Gibson (I) * Ware District: Andrew "Andy" James, Jr. (R) * York District: Phillip N. Bazzani (R)


Constitutional officers

* Clerk of the Circuit Court: Cathy Dale (R) * Commissioner of the Revenue: Jo Anne Harris (R) * Commonwealth's Attorney: John Dusewicz (R) * Sheriff: Darrell Warren (R) * Treasurer: Tara L. Thomas (R) Gloucester is represented by Republican Thomas K. "Tommy" Norment in the Virginia Senate, Republican M. Keith Hodges in the Virginia House of Delegates, and Republican Robert J. "Rob" Wittman in the U.S. House of Representatives.


Communities

Census-designated places * Gloucester Courthouse * Gloucester Point Unincorporated community * Hayes


Notable people

* John Buckner: brought the colony its first
printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in whi ...
in 1680 * Félix Rigau Carrera- first Puerto Rican Marine pilot; became a businessman in Gloucester County in later life. * John Clayton:
botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...
* Irene Morgan, civil rights activist who in 1946 won a
United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...
case ruling that segregation of interstate bus travel was unconstitutional, in '' Morgan v. Virginia'' (1946); she lived here in her later years * Robert Russa Moton, educator and author *
Walter Reed Walter Reed (September 13, 1851 – November 23, 1902) was a United States Army, U.S. Army physician who in 1901 led the team that confirmed the theory of Cuban doctor Carlos Finlay that yellow fever is transmitted by a particular mosquito ...
, doctor who discovered cause and cure for yellow fever during the building of the
Panama Canal The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...
and namesake of several medical facilities, including the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, in metro Washington, D.C. * Thomas Calhoun Walker: attorney and civil-rights activist.Black history in Gloucester: From slave child to folk hero
– ''The Daily Press'' February 9, 2013
The T.C. Walker House was added to the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 2009.


See also

* National Register of Historic Places listings in Gloucester County, Virginia


References


External links


Gloucester County

Chamber of Commerce
{{authority control 1651 establishments in the Colony of Virginia Virginia counties Populated places established in 1651