King and Queen County, Virginia (Howe)

KING AND QUEEN was formed from New Kent in 1691, the third year of the reign of William and Mary. The Mattapony runs on its SW. and the Piankatank on a portion of its NE. boundary. Its length is 40 miles, mean width 11 miles. Immense beds of marl run through the county, and furnish an inexhaustible source of improvement to the soil. No county in the state contains memorials of greater magnificence. On the Mattapony, a beautiful stream, are the vestiges of many ancient and once highly-improved seats, among which are Laneville, Pleasant Hill, Newington, Mantapike, Mantua, Rickahoe, White Hall, &c., known as the former residences of the Braxtons, Corbins, Robinsons, &c. Cotton and Indian corn are extensively produced. Pop. in 1840, whites 4,426, slaves 5,937, free colored 499; total, 10,863.

The Court-House is near the Mattapony, 53 miles NE. from Richmond. Newtown in the N., and Little Plymouth in the S. part of the county, are small places; the former, which is the largest, has about 20 dwellings. Dunkirk, now a post-office only, was, 30 or 40 years since, a village of considerable trade; but its unhealthiness and other causes have nearly obliterated it.