In the above we note the great development that had taken place in this section, a "stagecoach road" and two towns, Abingdon and Wythe Courthouse, being mentioned for the first time. A road over which a heavy stagecoach could travel was a big advance over the bridle paths and "rolling roads" of the preceding century.
In 1833, Rappahannock also a Virginia county, was established. This was taken from Culpeper County and named for the river which traverses it, and which, likely took its name from the Indian tribe living along its banks. The settlers first called this river Pembroke in honor of William Herbert, third Earl of Pembroke and brother-in-law of the famous Sir Philip Sydney. The Earl was a member of the Virginia Company of London and invested four hundred pounds sterling in the enterprise.
The bounds of Rappahannock County were as follows: "Beginning at the corner of Madison and Culpeper counties upon the top of the Blue Ridge of mountains and running thence with the line of said counties to the point where it is intersected by Hugh's river above the junction of Hugh's and Hazel's rivers; thence with Hugh's river to the junction of the aforesaid rivers; thence to a bend in the river near a point called the Giant's castle; thence to Horner's mill upon the Fauquier and Culpeper line; thence with said line to the corner of the aforesaid counties upon the top of the Blue Ridge, thence with said mountain to the beginning."
The next county established in this continuous effort to make due processes of law and order accessible to all lies now in the northern tip of West Virginia. It is called Marshall, honoring John Marshall who died in 1835, the year of the county's creation. John Marshall's career and achievements are too well known to be recounted here; suffice it to say that in his lengthy tenure as its Chief Justice he gave plan, directive and purpose to the Supreme Court of the United States.
The bounds of Marshall County were set forth as being "all that part of the lower end of the county of Ohio lying south of a line beginning on the Ohio river at a stone to be fixed on the bank of said river, one half mile above the mouth of Buggs' run; thence a direct line to the northern boundary of the town of West Union and thence continuing the same course to the Pennsylvania line."