Place:Northern Neck, Virginia, United States

The Northern Neck of Virginia is the strip of land between the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers. It contains the counties of Northumberland, Lancaster, Richmond and Westmoreland Counties. Some definitions also include King George and Stafford Counties. The Northern Neck of Virginia is not to be confused with the old Northern Neck Proprietary owned by the Fairfax family until after the American Revolution, which encompassed a much larger area.

If you will take out a map of Virginia, and follow the Rappahannock River to the Rapidan, and then draw a line more or less Northwest back up to the Potomac River in West Virginia, you will end up with the Northern Neck PROPRIETARY. In modern parlance, the "Northern Neck" is Northumberland, Lancaster, Richmond and Westmoreland counties. By anyone's definition, whether 200 years ago or today, it by no means encompasses anything south (or west) of the Rappahannock River.

External Links

The Northern Neck of Virginia Historical Society Website for Membership, Publications, Links, News and Events.

Research Library:

The Society's library collection, including the Westmoreland County Museum LIbrary and Henry Hungerford Library collections which are co-housed with it, includes print and non-print materials on the history of the Northern Neck. They include vital records, family histories, church and cemetery guides, histories of Virginia and Northern Neck towns and counties, immigration lists, census records, microfilm of the Northern Neck News, 1879-1939, and microfilm of the Virginia Citizen of Irvington, 1891-1917. The Library is located on the second floor of the Westmoreland County Museum in Montross, across from the old courthouse. Open Monday - Saturday: 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.