Accomac, Virginia
| Accomac, Virginia | |
|---|---|
| Town | |
The historic court green in Accomac
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 Location in Accomack County and the state of Virginia. |
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| Coordinates: 37°43′7″N 75°40′2″W / 37.71861°N 75.66722°WCoordinates: 37°43′7″N 75°40′2″W / 37.71861°N 75.66722°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Virginia |
| County | Accomack |
| Area | |
| • Total | 0.4 sq mi (1.1 km2) |
| • Land | 0.4 sq mi (1.1 km2) |
| • Water | 0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2) |
| Elevation | 39 ft (12 m) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 519 |
| • Density | 1,300/sq mi (470/km2) |
| Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
| ZIP code | 23301 |
| Area code(s) | 757 |
| FIPS code | 51-00180 |
| GNIS feature ID | 1498445 |
| Website | Official website |
Accomac is a town in Accomack County, Virginia, United States. The population was 519 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Accomack County.
Though Accomack County was established as one of Virginia's eight original shires in 1634, the government was situated in the southern part of the Eastern Shore near Eastville until the division of the shore into two counties (Northampton and Accomack) in 1663. During this era, religious diversity began in the area, as Presbyterian Francis Makemie received a plantation nearby which he used as a base for his mercantile and missionary journeys, and where he died at age 50 a few years after winning a New York court case brought against his preaching (as the Scots-Irish emigrant to Maryland's Eastern Shore counties produced a preaching license from Barbados). Early Baptist Elijah Baker (Baptist) also arrived near Accomac before the American Revolutionary War, and was likewise imprisoned for unauthorized preaching, but eventually also had that case dismissed.
After the creation of the present-day Accomack County, the court convened alternatively at Pungoteague and Onancock until the 1690s when it shifted to the house of John Cole at the site that later became the town of Accomac, then known by the name Matompkin. A brick courthouse was built in 1756 and the surrounding settlement became known as Accomack Courthouse. On December 7, 1786, Richard Drummond, Gilbert Poiley, John McLean, Edward Kerr, Catherine Scott, Patience Robertson, and William Berkeley petitioned the Virginia House of Delegates for the creation of an incorporated town at Accomack Courthouse. Their petition was granted and the House of Delegates passed an "Act to establish a Town at the Courthouse of the county of Accomack...by the name of Drummond," named in honor of the chief landholder in the new town. Many of the town's historic houses, churches, and other buildings were constructed between the last decade of the eighteenth century and first half of the nineteenth century, representing vernacular interpretations of late Georgian, Federal, and Greek Revival architectural styles, as the town prospered as the terminus of a ferry across Chesapeake Bay. The modern ferry only travels between nearby Onancock, Virginia and Tangier Island.
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