Mathews County

The proud rural charm and enchanting waterfront setting of Mathews are beloved features of this coastal county. Located on the northeast tip of the Tidewater region's Middle Peninsula, the land faces the winds and tides of the Chesapeake Bay head-on. Mathews is bordered by the Piankatank River to the north and the Mobjack Bay and its tributaries to the southwest. Home to powerful Powhatan Indians, it first was settled by Englishmen in the 17th century. The land was part of York and then Gloucester and became a separate county in 1791, renowned for its shipbuilding industry. Through the 21st century, Mathews County has served up fish and shellfish, vegetables and flowers, and music and crafts to neighbors, visitors, and merchants from other East Coast towns and beyond.

In a world that moves at a faster pace with every technological advance, the tempo of Mathews County remains relatively unchanged: pleasingly slow. As big box retailers homogenize nearby areas with a plethora of seemingly endless department stores, restaurant chains, and shopping centers, Mathews clings firmly and proudly to its rural charm and unspoiled natural beauty.

The middle chapters of this book are given over to Wilkes County genealogy and biography, with chapters on the buyers and sellers of lots and the early settlers of the county. The work as a whole is crowded with references to ministers, officials, teachers, and soldiers, so much so that an index of more than 2,000 entries was created by Mrs. Hays to encompass them.