Northern Neck Questions (Richmond, Dahlgren: transplants, vacation home, YMCA)

[Hudlander]

1. Where does the Northern Neck formally begin? Is King George(KG) really part of it, what is the line of demarcation, if any, or is it rather informal?

2. Is the Northern Neck starting to get encroached by NOVA sprawl or is it safe?

3. Why is it that in the central and eastern part of the NN there seems to be, depressingly, many abandoned buildings?

[skeddy]

I'm unaware of any line, IMO all of King George and Westmoreland counties would be included. Had a cottage at Coles Point many years ago, returned a few years ago, my has the home building trade flourished.


There's not much work in that central area. There are people who commute into DC from areas like Dahlgren, across the bridge.

[slowlane3]

The replacement for the 82.year old. 2-mile long, interstate Potomac bridge at Dahlgren should open next winter or by the spring of 2023. It will have twice as many lanes. Dahlgren/King George in the past decade has gotten a Wal.mart anchored shopping center, a family YMCA, a recreational rail.trail, a higher education center, and a motel.

[Hudlander]

Originally Posted by skeddy

I'm unaware of any line, IMO all of King George and Westmoreland counties would be included. Had a cottage at Coles Point many years ago, returned a few years ago, my has the home building trade flourished.


There's not much work in that central area. There are people who commute into DC from areas like Dahlgren, across the bridge.

Yea it's like what is the difference between eastern Stafford and western KG county?

[Bungalove]

Originally Posted by skeddy

I'm unaware of any line, IMO all of King George and Westmoreland counties would be included. Had a cottage at Coles Point many years ago, returned a few years ago, my has the home building trade flourished.


There's not much work in that central area. There are people who commute into DC from areas like Dahlgren, across the bridge.

Westmoreland County has always been included in the Northern Neck, whereas King George County is referred to as the "gateway" to it..

[Charlesaf3]

I wouldn't put King George in the Northern Neck. It is influenced by Nova. Real northern neck is rural and waterfront, rural farm bits are doing standard rural farm stuff.

See wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Neck

[Hudlander]

Originally Posted by Charlesaf3

I wouldn't put King George in the Northern Neck. It is influenced by Nova. Real northern neck is rural and waterfront, rural farm bits are doing standard rural farm stuff.

See wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Neck

King George is NOT NOVA, it's rural but I agree it maybe too far to be the NN.
Conversely, is Essex County the middle peninsula?

[Beenaroundabit]

I can't answer #1.

But for #2, I'd say yes - kind of. Most of the waterfront properties are bought by people from both NOVA and elsewhere, either well-off folks looking for vacation homes or retirees. However, I wouldn't say there's a substantial amount of "encroachment" yet in the way of massive development. That will likely change as time goes on. Especially when transplants get older and discover that most medical care is in the Richmond area (1.5 hours away) and your grocery shopping options are essentially Food Lion and WalMart, but little else.

Of course, this is all relative to what part of the neck you're referring to. My wife is from Heathsville. Her parents and brother still live there and we've been visiting them a few times a year since around 1990. The options I just mentioned apply to that location, but we'll probably still retire there anyway. It has its good and bad, just like any other place in the country.

#3 - I think a lot of abandoned or run down properties probably had something to do with income from the fishing industry, either directly or indirectly. Like most places in the country, the harvesting of natural resources boomed when it was largely unregulated and there appeared to be no limit to the money that could be made from it. This is probably similar to areas of the country that used to rely solely on things like mining and logging.