Albemarle County, Virginia

Albemarle County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Charlottesville
Year Organized: 1744
Square Miles: 723

Court House:

401 McIntire Road
County Courthouse
Charlottesville, VA 22902-4579

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Albemarle County was named for William Anne Keppel, second earl of Albemarle and governor of the Virginia colony from 1737 to 1754.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

Albemarle County, Virginia formed from Goochland, Louisa, and certain islands in the Fluvanna River. Boundary changes seem to have continued from 1836-1838, 1855-1856, 1861, and from 1876-1877. Virginia Counties: Those Resulting from Virginia Legislation, by Morgan Poitiaux Robinson, originally published as Bulletin of the Virginia State Library, Volume 9, January, April, July 1916, reprinted 1992 by Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, MD.]

It was formed from Goochland County in 1744, and part of Louisa County and certain islands in the Fluvanna River, now called the James, were added in 1762 and 1838. As originally created, the western section of Louisa County included the northern third of modern-day Albemarle County. In 1762, this region was cut from Louisa County and added to Albemarle County. Prior to 1762, the Louisa County line extended from about where the Fluvanna-Louisa line intersects the eastern boundary of Albemarle in the northwesterly direction, across the point where Ivy Creek enters the Rivanna River, to the crest of the Blue Ridge just south of Brown's Cove. (Before 1742 this area had been the westernmost part of Hanover County.) As a result of this legislative action of 3 Jun 1777 Fluvanna County was formed from Albemarle County and Fluvanna parish was formed from the Albemarle parish of St. Anne. Albemarle has an area 740 square miles, and the county seat is Charlottesville. Albemarle County is distinct from Albemarle Parish, Surry County.

Neighboring Counties:

Greene County, Virginia (north)
Orange County, Virginia (northeast)
Louisa County, Virginia (east)
Fluvanna County, Virginia (southeast)
Buckingham County, Virginia (south)
Nelson County, Virginia (southwest)
Augusta County, Virginia (west)
Rockingham County, Virginia (northwest)

In addition, the city of Charlottesville is enclaved within Albemarle County. Under Virginia law in effect since 1871, all municipalities in the state incorporated as cities are legally and politically independent of any county

Cities and Towns:

- Charlottesville (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Scottsville	town	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resource Guide

Counties: US Map

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of our country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."

Penn Foster High School

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