The Stronghold

On the western shore of the Bay there are three peninsulas, or necks, carved out of Virginia's shoreline by the tidal rivers. The third, and northernmost, of these peninsulas lies between the Rappahannock and the Potomac Rivers. It was probably referred to orally by the first white men who settled at Jamestown as "the northern neck". The name appeared in print certainly as early as 1677, when in an official document it was mentioned as "ye Northerne Neck". This third peninsula north lies aloof, and long, between its broad rivers, as they flow into the Chesapeake Bay on the east.