Nassawadox is a town in Northampton County,

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 ...

, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 533. The town, with an area of , is located on U.S. Route 13 on Virginia's Eastern Shore, approximately five miles south of Exmore and north of the

Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel Chesapeake most often refers to: *Chesapeake people, a Native American tribe also known as the Chesepian *Chesapeake Bay *Delmarva Peninsula, also known as the Chesapeake Peninsula Chesapeake may also refer to: Populated places In Virginia * ...

History

The name derives from a word from a Native American language that means "land between two waters." Nassawadox is bounded on the east by the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

and on the west by the

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 ...

. The county is divided, as is the town, into bayside and seaside areas, which refer to the land on either side of the highway, Route 13 (Lankford Highway), which runs through Accomack and Northampton counties. Highlighting its name and its location, Nassawadox has since 1993 hosted the annual October ''Between the Waters Bike Tour'', which features bike tours of various lengths between the Eastern Shore's two coasts. Brownsville and the Northampton Lumber Company Historic District are 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 ...

Demographics

2020 census

2000 Census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 572 people, 186 households, and 121 families living in the town. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was 1,334.2 people per square mile (513.6/km²). There were 207 housing units at an average density of 482.8 per square mile (185.9/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 54.90%

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 ...

, 43.18%

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 ...

, 0.87% Asian, and 1.05% from two or more races.

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 of any race were 1.22% of the population. There were 186 households, out of which 23.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.8% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 22.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.9% were non-families. 31.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 21.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.33 and the average family size was 2.93. In the town, the population was spread out, with 19.2% under the age of 18, 5.8% from 18 to 24, 14.7% from 25 to 44, 19.4% from 45 to 64, and 40.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 54 years. For every 100 females, there were 81.0 males. For every 100 females aged 18 and over, there were 69.2 males. The median income for a household in the town was $21,250, and the median income for a family was $27,500. Males had a median income of $25,000 versus $23,594 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the town was $14,626. About 24.0% of families and 32.8% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 44.7% of those under age 18 and 18.9% of those age 65 or over.

Transportation

Major highway

Public transportation

STAR Transit provides

public transit Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of wh ...

services, linking Nassawadox with Cape Charles, Onley, and other communities in Northampton and

Accomack Accomac may refer to: Geography *Accomac, Virginia, a town in Virginia ** Accomac Shire, a former county in Virginia of which the town was the county seat * Accomac, Pennsylvania Peoples * Accomac people, a historic Native American tribe from ...

counties on the Eastern Shore.

Railroads

The Bay Coast Railroad provided Nassawadox with freight rail service until going out of business in 2018.

Notable people

* Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, bluesman in the 1940s and 1950s * D. Page Elmore, former member of the

Maryland House of Delegates The Maryland House of Delegates is the lower house of the Maryland General Assembly, legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland. It consists of 141 delegates elected from 47 districts. The House of Delegates Chamber is in the Maryland State House ...

* Thom Henderson, creator of the popular ARC file format, which is the progenitor of the

ZIP file format ZIP is an archive file format that supports lossless data compression. A ZIP file may contain one or more files or directories that may have been compressed. The ZIP file format permits a number of compression algorithms, though DEFLATE is t ...

on computers. *

Ralph Northam Ralph Shearer Northam (born September 13, 1959) is an American physician and former politician who served as the 73rd governor of Virginia from 2018 to 2022. A pediatric Neurology, neurologist by occupation, he was an officer in the Medical Co ...

, Governor of Virginia *

George van Driem George "Sjors" van Driem (born 1957) is a Dutch professor emeritus of linguistics at the University of Bern. He studied East Asian languages and is known for the father tongue hypothesis. Education * Leiden University, 1983–1987 (PhD, ''A Gra ...

, Dutch linguist * Conny Van Dyke, actress * Todd Washington, NFL coach and assistant offensive line coach for the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team ...

; former NFL center for the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

and the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...

* Johnnie Wittig,

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

* Tyler Webb, Major League Baseball relief pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Climate

The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

system, Nassawadox has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps.Climate Summary for Nassawadox, Virginia
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References

{{authority control Towns in Northampton County, Virginia Towns in Virginia