County of Norfolk

… was created in 1636 by authorities in Virginia to give Henry Frederick Howard, Lord Maltravers, a specific area for his proposed settlement. Maltravers in 1632 acquired the Heath grant (see Carolana). The new county extended from about the site of present Suffolk, Va., to New Bern, N.C. It was into the area that the earliest settlers of what is now North Carolina began to move from Virginia. The County of Norfolk was soon divided into Upper Norfolk and Lower Norfolk Counties, with the latter containing the region that later became a part of North Carolina.