History

Exmore’s beginning is probably best described by H.C. Davis of Willis Wharf, who went to Exmore as a railroad employee shortly prior to the railroad’s passing through the soon to be town, he replied: “It wasn’t known as anything-there was nothing there.” (Dobson) That was not entirely true. There was farmland stretching across this narrow section of the Shore from Willis Wharf to Belle Haven.

The first land patent in Exmore’s vicinity was granted to John and Mary Cobb in 1661. They received 600 acres, 100 of which were sold to Simon Teague in 1687. The next year they bequeathed the balance of their home place to their sons, leaving 299 acres to son Samuel, 150 acres to son Joshua and 150 acres to son Ingould. It appears that either Samuel or Joshua, or both, acquired the tract where Exmore stands today. In 1696, Samuel and Mary Cobb sold 70 acres to John Downing, whose descendants came to own a large plantation in the northeast part of the county.

When the New York, Pennsylvania and Norfolk Railroad (the “Nip ‘n N”) decided to build a line through the Eastern Shore, residents immediately began campaigning to have it built through their communities, hoping to become boom towns. However, “the rail officials were much more concerned with their own economic prosperity, and the decision was made to lay rails straight down the center of the Shore.” (Eastern Shore News, July 10, 1985). Most of the stations that were originally established took the names of nearby towns and villages, although most of them were a mile or so away. When towns and villages were built around the stations, new names became necessary for establishing post offices near the stations.