In the spring of 1607, a small band of adventurers led by Captain Christopher Newport left Jamestown on a voyage up Powhatan's River, now called the James River. On the third day, they sailed to a place occupied by the Arrohattoc Indians, one of the tribes ruled by the Indian chief Powhatan. The explorers became the first Englishmen to set foot on the soil that was to become Henrico County.

In September of 1611, Sir Thomas Dale led an expedition up the James to establish the Citie of Henricus-the Virginia Colony's second English settlement. The city (and later Henrico County) was named in honor of Henry Frederick, the Prince of Wales and son of King James I of England.Henricus quickly became a thriving city. The private ownership of land (and the American free enterprise system) started here. The first university in the New World was chartered, and the first hospital-Mount Malady-was built and operated.

In 1612, Henricus planter John Rolfe introduced tobacco as the first successful cash crop in the New World. About this time, the Indian princess Pocahontas, who had been living in Henricus, converted to Christianity and took the name Rebecca. She and Rolfe were married in 1614. For a time they lived on a plantation at the side of the current Varina-on-the-James. The Varina magisterial district is named for a mild variety of tobacco from Spain, similar to the strain that helped make the colony profitable.

In the following years, Henrico was organized as one of Virginia's original eight counties, with Varina as the county seat.

Henrico was one homes of the earliest American defiance of the King of England, when in 1676 Henrico's Nathaniel Bacon organized his fellow Virginia planters and began an armed rebellion against the crown-appointed government. Bacon's rebellion was provided a glimpse of what was to come 100 years later.

In 1775, the Second Virginia Convention met in historic St. John's Church-the Parish Church of Henrico. Delegates from across Virginia were discussing the growing calls for independence from the British crown, and they were quite divided on the subject. On March 23, Patrick Henry rose to his feet and delivered one of the greatest speeches in world political history. Henry said, in part:

"The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave . . . If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! . . . Gentlemen may cry, peace, peace; but there is no peace . . . Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"

Henry's words lit a fire under his fellow Virginians, and indeed, his fellow Americans. His clarion call from Henrico County was heard throughout the 13 colonies, and led to the American War for Independence.

In 1780, at the urging of Virginia Governor Thomas Jefferson, the Virginia capital was moved from Williamsburg up the James River to Richmond, then a part (and the county seat) of Henrico.

In 1781, during the Revolutionary War, British Troops under Benedict Arnold burned the town of Osborne, for which Varina's Osborne Turnpike is named. British General Cornwallis and his troops camped in Eastern Henrico's White Oak Swamp on their way to the their final encampment-and the end of the Revolution-at Yorktown.

By the early 1800's, now a part of a new nation, most Henricoans made their living by farming and related industries, such as milling. Varina was a quiet yet prosperous area. Little did the residents know that their entire community would soon spend nearly four straight years as a war zone. Many important Civil War battles were fought in Eastern Henrico, including the battles of Seven Pines, Savage's Station, Glendale, Malvern Hill, and New Market Heights, and others in defense of Richmond. In fact, Henrico is tied with Dinwiddie County, Virginia, for the most Civil War Battlefields in any county in the United States. The National Park Service's Richmond National Battlefield Park preserves many key sites. Much of the outer defenses of Richmond-the Confederate Capital-can still be found throughout Varina.

The historic Dabbs House-used as General Robert E. Lee's headquarters-still stands and is now the eastern precinct for the Henrico Division of Police. And at New Market Heights on September 29, 1864, Union black infantry troops dislodged Confederate defenders in a heroic action for which fourteen men received Medals of Honor.

Today, Henrico's 260,000 residents live in a well-planned community of 244.06 square miles (635 square kilometers) consisting of beautiful residential communities, large expanses of fertile farm land, and carefully developed office, retail, and diversified industrial areas. More than 20,000 businesses call Henrico County home-four are Fortune 500 companies. There are 63 foreign-affiliated firms representing 14 countries in Henrico.

Bordering the Virginia's capital city of Richmond on the west, north, and east, the county of Henrico lies between the James and Chickahominy rivers, and constitutes approximately a third of the Richmond metropolitan area.

Henrico is ideally located in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. This strategic location on the eastern seaboard places local businesses halfway between the markets of the north and south, within a one-day haul of 50% of the U.S. population.

Henrico's central Virginia location is within a two-hour drive to the Atlantic beaches, the Blue Ridge Mountains, and the nation's capital, Washington, D.C. Historic Williamsburg is within a one-hour drive. Two major East Coast interstates cross in Henrico County (I64 EW and I95 NS) allowing for efficient travel.

Henrico has an extensive network of park and recreational facilities, many of which have historic significance. The Varina Athletic Association is proud to have the use of one the crown jewels of Henrico's parks and recreation facilities-Dorey Park. The 400-acre property was once one of the largest dairy farms on the East Coast. Today the old dairy barn has been transformed into a recreation center, and the park's numerous athletic fields are in a state of near-constant demand. Fields are provided for soccer, rugby, football, tennis, softball and baseball. Dorey Park also regularly hosts picnicking families, disc golfers, fishermen, hikers and horsemen.

(VAA thanks the Henrico County Government websites for much of this material.)