Editing Accomac, Virginia (section)

== History ==
Though Accomack County was established as one of [[Shires of Virginia|Virginia's eight original shires]] in 1634, the government was situated in the southern part of the [[Eastern Shore of Virginia|Eastern Shore]] near [[Eastville, Virginia|Eastville]] until the division of the shore into two counties ([[Northampton County, Virginia|Northampton]] and Accomack) in 1663.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Peters|first1=John O.|last2=Peters|first2=Margaret T.|title=Virginia's Historic Courthouses|date=1995|publisher=University Press of Virginia|location=Charlottesville|page=170}}</ref> 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 (preacher)|Elijah Baker]] 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, Virginia|Pungoteague]] and [[Onancock, Virginia|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.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Nock III|first1=Floyd|title=Drummondtown: Accomac Court House, Virginia|date=1976|publisher=McClure Press|location=Verona, VA|page=10}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Nock III|first1=Floyd|title=Drummondtown: Accomac Court House, Virginia|date=1976|publisher=McClure Press|location=Verona, VA|page=12}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Nock III|first1=Floyd|title=Drummondtown: Accomac Court House, Virginia|date=1976|publisher=McClure Press|location=Verona, VA|page=13}}</ref> 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 style|Georgian]], [[Federal style|Federal]], and [[Greek Revival architecture|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]].

During the [[American Civil War]], the [[Union Army]] occupied the Eastern Shore to cut supply lines to the south and prevent the [[Confederate Army]] from using the shore as a staging area to attack the north through [[Maryland]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Nock III|first1=Floyd|title=Drummondtown: Accomac Court House, Virginia|date=1976|publisher=McClure Press|location=Verona, VA|pages=21–24}}</ref> Union General [[Henry H. Lockwood]] commanded the occupying forces and established a headquarters in the rectory of [[St. James Church (Accomac, Virginia)|St. James Episcopal Church]] (then home to town physician Dr. Peter F. Browne).<ref>{{cite book|last1=Nock III|first1=Floyd|title=Drummondtown: Accomac Court House, Virginia|date=1976|publisher=McClure Press|location=Verona, VA|page=25}}</ref> Other than damages to the Presbyterian and Methodist Churches which were used by the army for stables and housing, Drummondtown escaped the war with little damage.

The late nineteenth century brought slow but steady economic prosperity for the citizens of Drummondtown, fueled by the arrival of the railroad from the north, and several new homes were constructed in and around the older core of the town in the 1880s and 1890s.<ref name="McClure Press">{{cite book|last1=Nock III|first1=Floyd|title=Drummondtown: Accomac Court House, Virginia|date=1976|publisher=McClure Press|location=Verona, VA|page=28}}</ref> The coming of the railroad also presented a challenge for Drummondtown when residents of the newly established town of [[Parksley, Virginia|Parksley]] initiated a referendum to move the county seat to the new community. The referendum vote took place in 1895 after nearly a decade of debate, and the residents of Accomack County elected to keep the court where it had been located for the past two centuries.<ref name="McClure Press"/> By this time, the town had been renamed "Accomac" by order of the [[United States Post Office Department]] dated August 9, 1893.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Nock III|first1=Floyd|title=Drummondtown: Accomac Court House, Virginia|date=1976|publisher=McClure Press|location=Verona, VA|page=7}}</ref> The name ''Accomac'' is derived from a Native American word translated to mean "on the other side".<ref>{{cite book|title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States|year=1905|pages=23|author=Gannett, Henry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BqwPAAAAIAAJ&output=pdf}}</ref>