In 1637, the House of Burgesses divided New Norfolk County and created Upper Norfolk County and a separate Lower Norfolk County.
The House of Burgesses renamed Upper Norfolk County as Nansemond County nine years later, in 1646. It remained Nansemond County until 1972, when the county became the City of Nansemond. It merged into the City of Suffolk in 1974, reuniting the county and the county seat into one governmental unit for the first time since the City of Suffolk had become an independent political unit in 1910.