While the nation celebrates its 250th birthday this year, Gloucester and Mathews will also be celebrating milestone anniversaries in 2026. The Virginia General Assembly, on Dec. 16, 1790, approved an act providing “that from and after the first day of May next, the county of Gloucester shall be divided into two distinct counties, that is to say, all that part of the said county lying to the eastward of a line, to begin at the mouth of North river, thence up to the meanders thereof to the mill, thence up the eastern branch of the mill pond to the head of Muddy creek, thence down the said creek to Piankatank river, shall be one distinct county, and called and known by the name of Mathews, and the residue of the said county shall retain the name of Gloucester.” Petitioners for separation cited the distance to Gloucester Court House and risk of crossing open waters to get there. And so, on Friday, May 1, 1791, that is to say, 235 years ago, Mathews County became an independent entity. Glou...