It was settled by French Huguenots in the early 1700's, and created by The Virginia General Assembly in 1777.  It was named for the paramount chief of the Powhatan Indians in the Tidewater region of Virginia in the late sixteenth and early years of the seventeenth century.  Chief Powhatan (c.1550-1618) was the leader of a confederacy of up to 32 Algonquian-speaking tribes.  His Indian name was Wahunsenacah and he was the father of Pocahontas (c.1595-1617), who saved the life of colonist John Smith.  His name is believed to mean 'falls in a current of water' or 'at the falls'.