Exmore, VA

Exmore is Northampton County’s largest town on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, built around the railroad that arrived in 1884. The line turned a farming area into a shipping center for potatoes, cabbage, onions, and other produce moving toward northern markets. The town’s name still has two competing explanations: “X more” stations remained on the route, or Exmore echoes Exmoor in England. Benjamin’s Department Store, a three-story brick building from about 1910, and the John W. Chandler House are listed on the National Register. Exmore is an Eastern Shore rail town with a produce-market past and a name that invites an argument.