Late 18th- or early 19th-century house built on the site of Werowocomoco and owned by Archer Bland (from an 1855 sketch).

Werowocomoco after 1609

Werowocomoco disappears from the surviving historic documents following Powhatan’s departure in 1609. Powhatan Indians likely continued to live at Werowocomoco after their leader moved to Orapaks on the Chickahominy River, but for how long and in what numbers is not known. Gloucester County was not settled by Europeans until the 1630s and the site of Werowocomoco was not patented until 1652. In that year, William Roberts patented the majority of the land between modern day Leigh and Bland creeks. Very little is known of this early settler.

In 1708 the property was sold and the new owner repatented the property in 1714. It is unclear if the new owner lived on the site, or if tenant farmers, indentured servants, or slaves worked the land during this period. The historic record remains silent from 1714-1763, Gloucester County’s records having been destroyed by fire in 1821 and 1865.

The parish vestry book and early land tax records link the Taliaferro family to the property from 1770–1814. During this time, Richard Taliaferro owned 415 acres where he resided with his wife and at least one son. They may have lived there earlier and are first mentioned as living in the parish in 1763.

From 1815 to 1860 the site of Werowocomoco was owned by the Caffee family and from 1860 until the mid-20th century the Bland family owned and lived on the property. By 1964 the site was owned by Rachel K. Schiebel who sold it to Coleman and Barbara Donaldson. They owned the property from 1969 to 1996, purchasing neighboring parcels and consolidating over 350 acres by the time they sold the property to Robert and Lynn Ripley, the current landowners, in 1996.