The year is 1634 and the house of Burgesses was ordered, by King Charles,
to create a new form of local governments in the Virginia colony each with it’s own local officers.
The term shire, was replaced a few years later with the term county.
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The Virginia colonies were given mandate by the King to establish a government.
The Virginia Territory was divided into 8 shires, each shire had a Reef overseeing the government within each reef.
​The ‘Shire’s Reef’ what is thought to be the origins of the word sheriff.

The following is a list of the 8 shires that were created in the year 1634;

Accomac Shire – now Northhampto and Accomac Counties
Charles City Shire – now Charles City County
​Charles River Shire – now York County
Elizabeth City Shire – extinct, now consolidated with the city of Hampton
Henrico Shire – now Henrico County
James City Shire – now James City County
Warwick River Shire – extinct, now consolidated with the city of Newport News
Warrosquyoake Shire – now Isle of Wight County.

Today we honor the past shires by creating our historical Rum, Gin, and Bourbon under the 8 Shires label.