[citation needed] The county has 19 sites listed on the National Register, including a landmark occupied in 1676 known as Bacon's Castle and Chippokes Plantation (now a state park).

Surry County initially consisted of two parishes of the Church of England: Lawne's Creek and Southwark.

The first town, Cobham, was established in 1691 at the mouth of Gray's Creek, where it flows into the James River.

In 1873, a New Jersey timberman, David Steele, with financing from Baltimore interests, began a lumber business in Surry County but went bankrupt a decade later.

In 1886 it incorporated the Surry, Sussex, and Southampton Railway, which delivered lumber to Scotland wharf on the James River (now the Jamestown Ferry terminal).

In 1927, it closed its mills in Dendron, Virginia, causing considerable economic distress in the county.

[2] The Temperance, Industrial and Collegiate Institute, a school for black Americans, was located in Surry County from 1892 to 1928.

[3] As part of Virginia's "Massive Resistance" to integration following Brown v. Board of Education, Surry County closed its white public schools so no black students could attend.

Grants and other provisions were made to provide public support for private education for the white students affected.

[4] The two-unit Surry Nuclear Power Plant was commissioned in 1972 and 1973 and is expected to remain active until 2053.

Authorities investigating Davon T. Boddie, 26, on a narcotics issue found evidence of dogfighting activities at home and property in Surry County where he lived.

An ESPN source alleged that Vick was a "heavyweight" in dogfighting and had been known to wager $40,000 on the outcome of a single fight.