THE COLONY PROSPERS UNDER A KING AND QUEEN AND TWO NEW COUNTIES HONOR THE ROYAL FAMILY
After Middlesex in 1669, there was a hiatus of 22 years before a new county was created. In that period, the colony's fortunes had been checkered, and unrest and depression had been widespread. Troubles with the Indians, Bacon's Rebellion and economic ills, which led to tobacco cutting, all combined to make Virginia a gloomy place. The accession of James II brought no improvement in England, and the time was ripe for revolution. James II was forced to flee. He was succeeded by his daughter Mary and her husband, who was his nephew, Prince William of Orange. Under their rule, both England and Virginia became more prosperous. The next new county, King and Queen, created 1691, was named in their honor. This was formed from New Kent, "so that Pamunkey River divide the same, and so down York River to the extent of the county, and that the part which is now on the south side of York and Pamunkey River be called New Kent, and the north side with Pamunkey Neck be called and known by the name of King and Queen county." It was enacted further "that the inhabitants of Pamunkey Neck, that now belong to St. Peter's Parish be restored and added to St. John's Parish from which they formerly were taken, and that the Pamunkey River be the bounds betwixt the two parishes."
About the same time Lower Norfolk became populous enough to justify the formation of a new county. This was to begin "at the new inlet of Little Creek and so up the said creek to the dams between Jacob Johnson and Richard Drout and so out of the said dams up a branch the head of which branch lyeth between the dwelling house of William Moseley, Senr., and the new dwelling house of Edmond Webb, and so to run from the head of the said branch on a direct line to the dams at the head of the Eastern branch of Elizabeth River, the which dams lie between James Kemp and Thomas Ivy, and so down the said branch to the mouth of a small branch or gutt that divides the land which Mr. John Porter now lives on from the land he formerly lived on, and so up the said small branch according to the bounds of the said plantation where the said Porter now liveth, and from thence to the great swamp that lieth on the east side of John Showlands and so along the said great swamp to the North River of Currituck and down the said North River to the mouth of Simpson's Creek and so up the said creek to the head thereof and from thence by a south line to the bounds of Carolina." The name of this new division was Princess Anne honoring the second daughter of James II by his first wife Anne Hyde, and the sister of Queen Mary. Later Princess Anne became a very popular Queen, Fluvanna County, the Rivanna River, the North Anna and South Anna and the Rapidan River all being named for her. At the same time that Princess Anne was formed, the name of Lower Norfolk was changed to Norfolk County.