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Clarke County was created out of Frederick County in 1836, when lifestyle differences arose among Frederick’s residents. Those west of Opequan Creek were small farmers of German, Irish, and Scottish descent. Those east of the creek, in what is now Clarke County, had larger estates, were descended from the original families of the Tidewater area who received land grants from the king, and enjoyed such activities as foxhunting.

Lord Fairfax himself lived — rather humbly, actually, for a lord — in what later became Clarke County.