Northern Neck National Heritage Area

10/22/2026

Today, the base in Dahlgren is surrounded by retailers and restaurants, but when the Navy acquired the first tract in 1918, “it was like living on the American frontier,” isolated with ankle-deep mud, says an NSWCDD blog.

In the early days, workers laid wooden planks to create sidewalks over the muck. Housing was scarce. So while some were fortunate enough to live in the eight residences on Welsh Road, others found themselves in tents.

By 1919, workers covered a few station roads with oyster shells to make them more passable. But to connect with the outside world, it was easier to take a boat up the Potomac to Washington than to travel within King George.

Land routes were limited, and roads to Fredericksburg were essentially impassable from December to March. Still, families needed supplies, so trips were necessary. For those choosing horse and carriage, Fredericksburg was a rickety, two-day journey.

When military officers traveled for official business, one or two wives often gathered lists from everyone and took the bumpy car ride. With them were four carrier pigeons to send back if the car got stuck. Their rescue came with a team of mules.

Yet the base became much more than a weapons-testing station. Since no doctor was nearby, Dahlgren’s medical officers served the surrounding community. The facility became a social hub, offering a community pool, nickel movies, sports facilities, and dances that attracted people from Fredericksburg to Waldorf.

The station eventually expanded from offering only blue-collar jobs to specialized, white-collar professions, fueling population and economic growth.

For decades, banking remained a challenge. Since the nearest banks were in King George and Colonial Beach, workers were paid in cash. But in 1951, Dahlgren opened a bank, allowing the switch to payroll checks.

More than a century later, Dahlgren continues its legacy as a core element of economic expansion in King George.
——
BTW, if you missed it, check out “Bridging the Northern Neck: Crossing the Rappahannock to a New Era” in the September newsletter.
https://www.nnk250.us/newsletters

Photos: NSWCDD

10/19/2026

10/19/2026

10/15/2026

At one time, the Church of England was Virginia’s established church. But by the 1760s, the Baptist faith was gaining ground and a young preacher from Stafford helped propel the spread through the Northern Neck.

Despite having little formal education, Lewis Lunsford, known as “the Wonderful Boy,” was a teenager when he began preaching and attracting a following in the Northern Neck. His first documented address in the region was in 1773, and by 1778, he was leading Morattico Baptist Church, the church history states.

By 1790, Morattico Baptist—now known as the mother Baptist church of the Northern Neck—had grown to 495 members, making it the largest Baptist church in Virginia, according to Encyclopedia Virginia.

Lunsford’s ministry came at a time when Baptists “operated on the fringes of the religious mainstream,” as Encyclopedia Virginia puts it. Colonial authorities worried that evangelical gatherings could result in challenges to the established order, and itinerant preachers without the required licenses risked legal trouble.

251 years ago this month, Lunsford faced such trouble in Richmond County. He was accused of assembling people and preaching “contrary to Law.” The court found him guilty of breaching good behavior and ordered him “to give security,” essentially a bond pledging good behavior.

Yet legal threats were not the only opposition he faced. In 1778, a pistol-wielding mob stormed his sermon, fought the crowd of about 700 people, and Lunsford was forced to hide in a congregant’s home, says Encyclopedia Virginia.

Despite legal turbulence, threats, and hostility, Lunsford continued preaching. Morattico Baptist Church stands as a reminder of the movement he helped build and of the struggles faced by those who challenged Virginia’s religious establishment.

10/09/2026

10/09/2026

Before the 1870s, fishing in Virginia was largely a seasonal activity. Farmer-fishermen mostly used handlines and drag seines during parts of the spring and fall, primarily to supply fish for their families and neighbors.

Then came the pound net.

Although this innovation would transform commercial fishing in Virginia, its arrival was met with opposition and conflict, explains a 1955 Commercial Fisheries Review.

In one instance, a New England waterman introduced the pound net to Mobjack Bay, where local farmer-fishermen “had never seen anything like it,” said "Working the Chesapeake: Watermen On the Bay."

After seeing the quantities of fish caught in this “destructive apparatus,” the newcomer was asked to leave. When he initially ignored that request, some locals sawed off his pound net’s stakes and hauled his netting ashore.

Deciding to go, he sold the pound net to a local farmer who rebuilt it. Again, the contraption was destroyed.

But the results were irresistible. Despite resistance, pound nets spread throughout the Chesapeake Bay region. In 1880, 162 pound nets were reported in Virginia waters. By 1930, that number had soared to 2,262, the Fisheries Review states.

Pound nets became the most important gear for food fisheries in the Chesapeake Bay, the report added.

A pound net is a stationary fishing trap made of netting secured by stakes. With its multi-compartment design, watermen were able to collect fish and gather them later, rather than actively harvesting small quantities.

Not only did this method produce larger catches but it also illuminated commercial opportunities for species that local fishermen previously hadn’t considered, such as Spanish mackerel.

More than 150 years later, pound nets remain part of the Northern Neck's fishing culture. Virginia State Code still addresses the region’s pound net fishing with local waters including the Rappahannock and Great Wicomico rivers specifically cited in the regulations.

10/09/2026

https://washingtonian.com/2026/10/08/hunting-snakehead-fish-in-virginia/

Prized by grocers and chefs, this invasive and elusive fish is tough to catch with nets and lures. We went on an evening bowfishing expedition in Virginia to see how it ends up on your plate.