This small county lies at the tip of the state's Northern Neck, a peninsula jutting out where the Rappahannock River enters the Chesapeake Bay. While driving there, you get the feeling you're about to reach road's end. It would be more appropriate to say it's the road's beginning, for this is where some of the earliest English settlers set foot. When Captain John Smith came in 1608, he described it as "a place where heaven and earth never agreed better to frame man's habitation." History is indeed rich here. It's where George Washington's mother was born; the former President himself was born nearby.

Today the county and its residents are in transition. Settlers may have come for the agriculture, but few full-time farmers are left, probably less than a dozen. "It's a real pretty area," says Ronald Forrester, a third-generation farmer.

"Right now we're getting a lot of pressure from developers." As in many areas of the United States, developers have driven land prices up beyond what farming will pay. But what irks Forrester and others the most is when they take good farmland instead of the marginal land. "Once the farmland is gone, it's gone forever," notes Forrester.

Much attention now is on the coast with its 280 miles of shoreline. You'll find a lot of second homes here. But locals enjoy the county's benefits year-round--quiet living, low crime, good education and modern health care.

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For seafood lovers, this is the place to be. Fishermen bring in some of the best seafood to be had, including their famous blue crabs.

The pace of life is slow and easy here. Several residents told us that Native Americans used to call this area "the land of the peaceful living." We couldn't confirm that historically, but after a few days there, we also wouldn't be surprised if it were true.