THE NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY LAND BRIEF
Land in the
Rolling Coastal Plain setting.
Northumberland County has 191.4 square miles of land in Virginia. 2 mapped landscape regions meet across Northumberland County: Rolling Coastal Plain, Chesapeake-Pamlico Lowlands and Tidal Marshes.
Irregular plains of sand, silt and clay support a mix of pine and hardwood landscapes. The region has more relief than the lower coastal plain, with generally gentle stream gradients.
Regional context: Southeastern Plains ↗ · Regional mapping across the county footprint
Where the landscape changes
Northumberland County intersects 2 mapped regional units. The largest mapped shares are:
- Rolling Coastal Plain53.4%
- Chesapeake-Pamlico Lowlands and Tidal Marshes46.6%
Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain in Northumberland County
Low coastal plains contain terraces, estuaries, marshes and barrier islands. Unconsolidated sediments underlie this varied coastal setting, with forest patterns changing near streams and low-lying areas.
Read the regional source ↗Finding your parcel within Northumberland County
The atlas lists 2 cities, towns, townships, and Census communities associated with Northumberland County, including Heathsville, Kilmarnock. The list includes overlapping geography types and does not divide the county into exclusive service areas.
Northumberland County by land and water
The Census records 94.2 square miles of water within Northumberland County, or 33% of its total area. That share is close to Northumberland County’s 33%. This is geographic context; waterfront status and usable land must be checked at the parcel.
For scale, Northumberland County has 48.1 times the land area of nearby Heathsville CDP (3.98 square miles). These areas describe boundaries, not comparable property prices.
The Census boundary meets Accomack County, Lancaster County, Richmond County, Westmoreland County within Virginia. A tract near one of these lines should be matched to the county identifier on its own records.

