Ever wonder about the origin of the name "Nokes"? According to a book titled A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, Nokes and it’s many variations (Noakes, Noack, Noak, Noake, Noaks) is an Old English contraction of "Atten-Oak, -Oke", or "At The Oak," from residence beside the oak-tree. The final n in the prefix atten (at the) becomes the initial of the name proper (Oak). Nokes …represents a cluster of oak trees.

Our town received its name from the Nokes families who purchased much land here in the 1860s. There were three Nokes brothers, but Captain Norvel Nokes is purported to be the person for whom the town was named. The Nokesville Post Office was established August 28, 1865, and this date may be considered the official birth of the town.

The single track railroad through town was the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, and it was the reason for Nokesville’s existence and growth. By 1904, the Southern Railway had purchased the railroad and made it into a double track. The Station, or Depot, was considered Nokesville’s nerve center; freight and passengers were almost constantly arriving or departing. It is recalled that a threshing machine and other large farm implements arrived in Nokesville by rail. Three general stores of the early twentieth century provided the community with all the citizens’ needs, including clothing, groceries, hardware, farm machinery, animal feed, fertilizer, etc.

In the first half of the twentieth century, these businesses flourished: blacksmith shop, barber shop, real estate office, garages (after 1917), distillery, restaurant, millinery shop, several general stores, farm machinery stores, lumber yard, and the Bank of Nokesville. They served the town as needs and opportunities presented themselves. Obviously, such craftsmen as the harness maker and the saddlery of the nineteenth century were no longer in vogue as time progressed.

Present-day businesses in Nokesville are in stark contrast to those early operations, but, then again, there are many interesting similarities.