Isle of Wight County, Virginia

Isle of Wight County is a located in the  region of the  of, a  of the. As of 2000, the population was 29,728. Its is

History
During the 17th century, shortly after establishment of the settlement at  in, English settlers and explored and began settling the areas adjacent to. in 1608 crossed the and obtained fourteen bushels of corn from a tribe of  called Warrosquyoackes.

In the next few years, several s were established along the shore in the area south of the river.

By, the consisted of eight s or  with a total population of approximately 5,000 inhabitants. One of these was, renamed Isle of Wight County in , after the island in the English channel of the same name. The name was probably changed due to the difficulty of spelling and pronouncing its Native American name and because the had been the home of some of the principal colonists.

,, built in 1632, the nation's only original Gothic church and the oldest existing church of English foundation in America is located in the county.

In 1732 a considerable portion of the northwestern part of the original shire was added to ; and in 1748 the entire county of was carved out of it.

During the, Company F of the 61st Virginia Infantry of the  was called the "Isle of Wight Avengers."

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 940 (363 ). 818 km² (316 mi²) of it is land and 121 km² (47 mi²) of it (12.93%) is water.

The county is bounded by the James River on the north and the to the south. The land is generally low-lying, with many and s.

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 29,728 people, 11,319 households, and 8,670 families residing in the county. The was 36/km² (94/mi²). There were 12,066 housing units at an average density of 15/km² (38/mi²). The racial makeup of the county was 71.08%, 27.15% or , 0.26% , 0.34% , 0.03% , 0.28% from , and 0.86% from two or more races. 0.85% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 11,319 households out of which 34.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.40% were living together, 12.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.40% were non-families. 20.00% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.60% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 2.99.

In the county, the population was spread out with 25.40% under the age of 18, 6.60% from 18 to 24, 29.60% from 25 to 44, 26.20% from 45 to 64, and 12.20% who were 65 years of age or older. The age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 95.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.70 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $45,387, and the median income for a family was $52,597. Males had a median income of $37,853 versus $22,990 for females. The for the county was $20,235. About 6.60% of families and 8.30% of the population were below the, including 8.80% of those under age 18 and 11.90% of those age 65 or over.

Trivia

 * As one of the original eight established in 1634, of which five have survived continously in their original form, Isle of Wight County is one of the oldest county governments in the United States of America.