Port Tobacco was small English settlement established in 1639. During this time, the town was considered a major shipping center of commerce and thrived until the Revolutionary War. The first Women’s Religious Order in the U.S. was founded in Port Tobacco. During the Civil War, Port Tobacco was sympathetic to the Confederate movement, as meetings of the Lincoln kidnapping conspirators were held in the town hall.

The village is small with a population of 13 people.