The county was named for the former Duchy of Brunswick-Lunenburg, the ancestral home of the British monarchs of the House of Hanover.

[2] Known for its rural character, the county as one of the claimants to be the namesake of Brunswick stew, a popular Southern dish.

The first English settlers, in what was to become Brunswick County, swarmed into the relatively protected lands near Fort Christanna during its 4 years of operation (1714–1718).

He was appointed as a tobacco inspector in Bristol Parish in 1728 and that year served with William Byrd II on his spring and fall expeditions to survey the border between Virginia and North Carolina.

Taking advantage of land grants due to headrights, for people whose passage he paid to the colony, and outright purchases, Pittillo ultimately owned more than 4,000 acres (16 km2) in the area of Prince George County, Brunswick, and Dinwiddie counties in Southside Virginia.

In 1780, during the American Revolutionary War, Greensville County was formed from part of Brunswick's eastern side.

As tobacco exhausted the soil and the markets changed, planters and smaller farmers diversified the mostly rural economy by raising mixed crops and harvesting lumber before the American Civil War.

Altogether, more than one million enslaved African Americans were sold South in the antebellum years in this forced migration, which broke up many families.

As the story goes, Dr. Creed Haskins of Mount Donum on the Nottoway River, a member of the Virginia State Legislature, took several friends on a hunting expedition.

Mr. Matthews slowly stewed the squirrels in butter, with onions, stale bread and seasoning in a large iron pot.

Cooks produce large batches of the "Virginia ambrosia" for church functions, local fund raisers, family reunions, and political rallies.

Each cook and generation add their variations to Jimmy Matthews's recipe for Brunswick stew: chicken has been substituted for squirrel and vegetables have been added.

On February 22, 1988, at the State Capitol in Richmond, Brunswick County officially kicked off a campaign to increase awareness of its economic development opportunities.

The proclamation contains a tongue-in-cheek jab at Brunswick, Georgia, which claims to have created the traditional Southern dish, setting off what has been coined as "The Stew Wars."

One of the many traditional recipes, which requires 6 to 7 hours to cook, was renamed Brunswick Proclamation Stew for the occasion.

"[15] With the help of the Fearnow Brothers, the County got its own stew label, approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).