The area around Chigasaki has been inhabited since prehistoric times. The area was largely pasture and farmland well into the Edo period. The Tōkaidō connecting Edo with Kyoto passed through what is now Chigasaki, but without a post station. A large part of the area was the "tenryō" territory in Sagami Province controlled directly by the Tokugawa Shogunate through the Edo period, though other parts were administered by small clans including the Ōoka clan, which is renowned for its descendant Ōoka Tadasuke.