Through the centuries, smallpox was one of the most serious viral diseases — it caused scarring and death. The disease was wiped out worldwide by 1980, but on the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula the highly contagious disease was still feared and still very much present at the end of the 19th century. A small point of land on Robinson Creek in Middlesex County is today called “Smallpox Point” — a little known anecdotal name passed down through the generations...