Tappahannock: Hobbs His Hole to River Port

Tappahannock is the oldest town in Essex County, Virginia, established in sixteen eighty-two on land that had been known as Hobbs His Hole, for the planter Richard Hobbs who held the tract. The town was also briefly called New Plymouth. The Rappahannock people, for whom the river is named, lived along this stretch of the river long before the English arrived. Tappahannock settled into a long life as a tobacco shipping point, courthouse town, and Rappahannock River crossing , roles it still plays today.