Elizabeth City County was a county in southeastern Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

 from 1634 to 1952. Originally created in 1634 as Elizabeth River Shire, it was one of eight shire

Shire

A shire is a traditional term for a division of land, found in the United Kingdom and in Australia. In parts of Australia, a shire is an administrative unit, but it is not synonymous with "county" there, which is a land registration unit. Individually, or as a suffix in Scotland and in the far...

s created in the Virginia Colony by order of the King of England

Charles I of England

Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...

. In 1636, it was subdivided, and the portion north of the harbor of Hampton Roads

Hampton Roads

Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...

 became known as Elizabeth City Shire. It was renamed Elizabeth City County a short time later.

Elizabeth City was originally named Kikotan (also spelled Kecoughtan

Kecoughtan, Virginia

Kecoughtan in Virginia was originally named Kikotan , the name of the Algonquian Native Americans living there when the English colonists arrived in the Hampton Roads area in 1607....

 and Kikowtan), presumably a word for the Native Americans

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 living there when the English arrived in 1607. They were friendly to the English, but Sir Thomas Gates

Thomas Gates

Thomas Gates may refer to:*Sir Thomas Gates , of the Virginia Company, an early leader and governor of the Colony of Virginia*Thomas Sovereign Gates , U.S. educator, first president of the University of Pennsylvania...

 either worried about safety (including potential attack by the Spaniards and the Dutch) or coveted their corn fields after the "starving time"

Starving Time (Jamestown)

The Starving Time at Jamestown in the Colony of Virginia was a period of forced starvation initiated by the Powhatan Confederacy to remove the English from Virginia. The campaign killed all but 60 of the 500 colonists during the winter of 1609–1610....

 of the 1609-10 winter. The English stole their land while the men were out hunting, and for some reason, the natives never attacked the settlement in response.

The shire and county were named for Elizabeth of Bohemia

Elizabeth of Bohemia

Elizabeth of Bohemia was the eldest daughter of King James VI and I, King of Scotland, England, Ireland, and Anne of Denmark. As the wife of Frederick V, Elector Palatine, she was Electress Palatine and briefly Queen of Bohemia...

, daughter of King James I

James I of England

James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...

, sister of Princes Henry and Charles.

The town of Hampton, established in 1680, became the largest city in Elizabeth City County, and was the county seat

County seat

A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....

. In 1952, Elizabeth City County merged with Hampton and is today the independent city

Independent city

An independent city is a city that does not form part of another general-purpose local government entity. These type of cities should not be confused with city-states , which are fully sovereign cities that are not part of any other sovereign state.-Historical precursors:In the Holy Roman Empire,...

 of Hampton

Hampton, Virginia

Hampton is an independent city that is not part of any county in Southeast Virginia. Its population is 137,436. As one of the seven major cities that compose the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, it is on the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula. Located on the Hampton Roads Beltway, it hosts...

. The city also includes the former Town of Phoebus

Phoebus, Virginia

Phoebus was an incorporated town located in Elizabeth City County on the Virginia Peninsula in eastern Virginia. Upon incorporation in 1900, it was named in honor of local businessman Harrison Phoebus , who is credited with convincing the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway to extend its tracks to the...

, resulting in modern-day Hampton encompassing nearly all of what was Elizabeth City County.

Since the English settlers occupied the former Indian village of Kecoughtan in 1610, and the town at Jamestown

Jamestown, Virginia

Jamestown was a settlement in the Colony of Virginia. Established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 14, 1607 , it was the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States, following several earlier failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke...

 was eventually abandoned, the city of Hampton now claims to be the oldest continuously-settled English city in North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

.

Major Communities in Elizabeth City County

• Buckroe Beach
  Buckroe Beach, Virginia
  Buckroe Beach is a neighborhood in the independent city of Hampton, Virginia. It lies just north of Fort Monroe and fronts the mouth of Hampton Roads at the Chesapeake Bay...
  
  
• Fox Hill
  Fox Hill, Virginia
  Fox Hill is an area within the eastern part of Hampton, Virginia. It is mostly a neighborhood community with a few small businesses scattered throughout. Fox Hill is bordered to the south by Phoebus, a neighborhood and former town that was incorporated within the city of Hampton; and Buckroe, a...
  
  
• Langley Field
• Plum Tree Point
• Phobeus
  Phoebus, Virginia
  Phoebus was an incorporated town located in Elizabeth City County on the Virginia Peninsula in eastern Virginia. Upon incorporation in 1900, it was named in honor of local businessman Harrison Phoebus , who is credited with convincing the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway to extend its tracks to the...
  
  
• Hampton
  Hampton, Virginia
  Hampton is an independent city that is not part of any county in Southeast Virginia. Its population is 137,436. As one of the seven major cities that compose the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, it is on the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula. Located on the Hampton Roads Beltway, it hosts...
  
   (before it became an independent city)
• Wythe
  Wythe (Hampton, Virginia)
  Wythe is a neighborhood in Hampton, Virginia.The Wythe neighborhood is named after one of the original signers of the United States Declaration of Independence, George Wythe....
  
  
• Aberdeen Gardens
  Aberdeen Gardens (Hampton, Virginia)
  Aberdeen Gardens is a historic district located in Hampton, Virginia, USA. The district was part of a planned community initiated by Hampton University under New Deal legislation.-Design:...
  
  
• Pine Chapel Village

External links

• http://www.virginiaplaces.org/vacount/elizaco.html
• http://www.hampton.va.us/police/about_us/about_division.html