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Elizabeth City Shire (or County)
(For more Norfolk geography tidbits, click here.)
As a part of the Colony of Virginia, the land in today’s city of Norfolk began as part of the original Elizabeth City Shire (or County), which was formed under the direction of King James I for the Colony of Virginia in 1634 (1 Hening's Statutes at Large, p.224).  The Shire included land on both sides of Hampton Roads: namely, essentially what is todayHampton Roads Times Magazine HamptonRoadsTimes.com the city of Hampton (mainly “Kecoughtan” at that time – originally “the savage name of Kiccowtan” – which had been established in 1619 as one of the four “citties” of the Colony of Virginia) on the north side of Hampton Roads, and today’s Suffolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Norfolk, and Virginia Beach on the south side of Hampton Roads and Chesapeake Bay.  By 1637, the Shire was reduced in size, all of the southern portion being separated from it and divided into two ("Upper" and "Lower" Norfolk County) parts.


  




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