Brunswick County, Virginia

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

County Seat: Lawrenceville
Year Organized: 1732
Square Miles: 566

Court House:

P.O. Box 399
County Courthouse
Lawrenceville, VA 23868-0399

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Brunswick is named for the former Duchy of Brunswick-Lunenburg in Germany, because one of the titles also carried by Britain's Hanoverian kings was Duke of Brunswick-Lunenburg.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

Brunswick County, Virginia formed from Prince George, Isle of Wight, and Surry Counties. Isle of Wight and Surry only gave a small portion, possibly at a later date and possibly later another portion from Prince George County. Legislative enactment in 1720. Organized (records begin) in 1732. [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.]

Brunswick County was named for the duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg, one of the German possessions of George I. It was formed in 1720 from Prince GeorgeCounty, but county government was not organized until 1732. In the latter year, Brunswick County was enlarged by the addition of parts of Surry and Isle of Wight Counties. Its area is 579 square miles, and the county seat is Lawrenceville. The population is 18,419 according to the 2000 census. The first pages of a number of early record books damaged by time.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 569 square miles (1,475 km²), of which, 566 square miles (1,466 km²) of it is land and 3 square miles (8 km²) of it (0.57%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Dinwiddie County, VA to the northeast
Greensville County, VA to the east
Lunenburg County, VA to the west
Mecklenburg County, VA to the west
Northampton County, NC to the southeast
Nottoway County, VA to the northwest
Warren County, NC to the southwest

Cities and Towns:

- Alberta	town	Incorporated Area
- Brodnax	town	Incorporated Area
- Lawrenceville (County Seat)	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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