Virginia's Northern Neck

Six counties were formed within the region as the colony evolved: Northumberland (1648), Lancaster (1651), Westmoreland (1653), Stafford (1664), Richmond (1692), and King George (1721). A microcosm of Virginia's complex colonial society and an incubator of Revolutionary leadership, the Northern Neck has been called the "Birthplace of the Nation."

Economic and societal development of the Northern Neck within Virginia and the wider British Empire benefited a white population composed of many small and middling farmers dominated by several elite families who amassed large plantations. This satisfied white society was made possible by the subjugation of indigenous Native Americans and exploitation of enslaved Africans and African Americans during the 17th and 18th centuries. Ironically, this tragic legacy also produced within the Northern Neck leaders who played decisive roles in the American Revolution and the early national history of the United States.

In 1766 Westmoreland County native Richard Henry Lee authorized the Leedstown Resolves (also known as the Westmoreland Resolves), the first colonial statement of opposition of the Stamp Act imposed on the American colonies by the British Parliament. Ten years later, in the Second Continental Congress meeting in PHiladelphia, he introduced the resolution that led to adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Richard Henry Lee and his brother Francis Lightfoot Lee were the only brothers among the signers of the Declaration.

Three of the first five US presidents were born in Northern Neck counties, George Washington (Westmoreland, 1732), James Madison (King George, 1751), and James Monroe (Westmoreland, 1758). The three, along with Albemarle County's Thomas Jefferson, comprised the "Virginia Dynasty" that made an indelible impact on the early evolution of the presidency.