Not so along the Rappahannock, for by 1656 only three years after Westmoreland was created, a petition was presented to the Assembly by "the inhabitants of the lower part of Lancaster County showing their vast distance from the county courts" and praying that a division be made. The Assembly acceded to their wishes, ordering "the upper part of Mr. Bennett's land known by the name of Naemhock on the south side of the easternmost branch of Morattico Creek on the north side the river be the lowermost bounds of the upper county; the lower county to retain the name of Lancaster and the upper county to be named Rappahannock County." This division followed the bounds of two parishes previously established.
The formation of Rappahannock County in 1656 ended the list of counties formed in the decade 1650 to 1660.
The next development was on the Eastern Shore. It had become sufficiently populous to support two county governments and in an Act of the Assembly March 1661/62 reference is made to the two counties. The southern part of the peninsula retained the name it had borne for twenty years, Northampton, and the county to the north assumed the name once borne by the entire peninsula, Accomack. The question of the boundary line between the two divisions dragged on for twenty-five years, being settled 22 March 1687/88. It has remained fixed. The boundary between Virginia and Maryland also was long in dispute, but Watkins Point at the mouth of Pocomoke River on its north side is the western end of the line. The line across the peninsula was set at a little north of the point.
With Eastern Shore divided into two counties, no further growth was possible and the peninsula remains two counties.
The next county to be formed in the colony was Stafford, which lies on the north side of the Rappahannock River to the west of Westmoreland. The name is in honor of an English shire. When formed in 1664, it was a border county with constant fear of Indian attacks since an established Indian trail regularly used by their hunting parties lay within its territory. Its north and west boundaries were not well defined, but included the area later Fairfax, Prince William, Fauquier, Loudoun and Alexandria (now Arlington) Counties.
Middlesex County, next to be noted, was functioning as a county in 1669 as Mr. F. W. Sydnor demonstrated in an article in Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Volume 42. It was taken from Lancaster County, being the portion that lies on the south side of the Rappahannock River and extends to Dragon Run, the northern boundary of Gloucester. It had been the southern part of Christ Church Parish in Lancaster and retained the same parish name. Christ Church was the only parish and coterminous with Middlesex County. By good fortune, Christ Church in Lancaster and Christ Church in Middlesex are still preserved and in use. Both the Register and Vestry Book of the latter have survived the years, the former begins in 1653 and the latter ten years later. No Register of Christ Church Lancaster survives, and the extant Vestry Book covers only the years 1739 to 1786. Middlesex, never large, was, in colonial days, the home of numerous distinguished families, among them the Wormeleys, whose house "Rosegill" has seen many important historical events. The name Middlesex is for the English shire, doubtless the birthplace of many early residents of the Virginia County.