The earliest settlement of the region known as the Eastern Shore dates from 1614, when twenty men were sent to Smith's Island (sic) to make salt for the colony. In the reorganization of the colony in 1634, the Eastern Shore began an original shire known as "Accawmak". That name continued from 1632 to 1642; from 1642 to 1663 it was designated Northampton County, named for an English county; in 1663 the Eastern Shore was divided into Accomack and Northampton counties and continued thus to the present, except for the three-year period of 1670-1673. During that time these two counties were united under the name Northampton County, with Accomack being called Upper Northampton. The records for the period 1632-63 are in the custody of the clerk of Northampton County.
Northampton's records, which begin in 1633 and thus predate the county itself, comprise the oldest continuous group of county records in English America. There have been no courthouse fires or other destruction of the clerk's records.
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