Irvington, VA

Irvington is a Lancaster County town on Carter’s Creek, a tidal tributary of the Rappahannock River on Virginia’s Northern Neck. From 1873 to 1891 it was called Carter’s Creek Wharf, a steamboat landing where goods and travelers arrived by water. Residents voted for Irvington in 1891 to honor Captain Levin H. Irvington, after mail confusion with Center Cross made the old name impractical. The town’s historic district preserves the wharf-era commercial core and homes, while the Steamboat Museum keeps the Chesapeake traffic in view. Irvington is a Virginia waterfront town whose name changed with the mail, but whose real beginning was always the water.