Gloucester County of Virginia is 225-square-miles of land area bound by the Piankatank River on the north, Mobjack Bay on the east, and the York River to the south. Established in 1651, the county is rich in history. When English settlers arrived in the area to be known as Jamestown in 1607, Chief Powhatan, ruling over 32 tribes, had established his main village, Werawocomoco, in Gloucester. According to Smith, it was here, on the north side of the York River “about 25 myles lower on the North side of this river is Werewocamoco, and nourisheth neare 300 able men” (The Generall Historie of Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles, John Smith, 1624), that Captain John Smith’s life was saved by Powhatan’s daughter, Pocahontas. Afterwards, Smith had his men build Chief Powhatan a home and the remains of it - a chimney - still stand today.

In the 1600s and 1700s, Gloucester was a tobacco producing area, and many old plantation homes and magnificent private estates remain today in perfect condition. One such estate, Elmington, was owned by the famous author Thomas Dixon. He wrote a book about Gloucester and titled it The Land of the Life Worth Living. This title was no exaggeration and has been incorporated into the county’s motto.

Not only did the Powhatan Native Americans find Gloucester to be the perfect place to live, but other notable Gloucestonians include John Page of Rosewell, a friend of Thomas Jefferson, Dr. Walter Reed, born in the county and later became the conqueror of yellow fever, and John Clayton, a world renowned botanist. It was also home to the colony’s first printing press brought to the county in 1680 by John Buckner.

Other significant remnants of history are the Gloucester Point fortifications from Colonial days through the Civil War, and the site of a second surrender by General Charles Lord Cornwallis to General George Washington at Yorktown.

Today, Gloucester welcomes visitors to such historic places as the colonial churches Ware (founded 1690) and Abingdon (founded 1755), and the Courthouse Green, where the oldest courthouse in the United States is actively serving the public.