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Virginia Counties

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Virginia Counties

The Commonwealth of Virginia is divided into 95 counties and 39 independent cities, which are considered county-equivalents for census purposes.

City Of Charlottesville, Virginia

City Of Charlottesville History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Charlottesville is named after Sophia Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: City Of Charlottesville

County History

Charlottesville, Virginia established in 1762. [Virginia Genealogy, Sources & Resources, by Carol McGinnis, Genealogical Publishing Inc., Baltimore, MD, 1993.]

Charlottesville, Virginia incorporated on 19 January 1801. Established in 1762. County seat for Albemarle County. Incorporated as a city 1888. [Virginia Genealogy, Sources & Resources, by Carol McGinnis, Genealogical Publishing Inc., Baltimore, MD, 1993.]

Charlottesville is located in the center of the Commonwealth of Virginia along the Rivanna River, a tributary of the James, just west of the Southwest Mountains, itself paralleling the Blue Ridge about 20 miles to the west. It was formed by charter in 1762 along a trade route called Three Notched Road (present day U.S. Route 250) which led from Richmond to the Great Valley. It was named for Queen Charlotte, the queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom.

During the American Revolutionary War, the Convention Army was imprisoned in Charlottesville between 1779 and 1781 at the Albemarle Barracks. (Moore, John Hammond (1976). Albemarle: Jefferson's County, 1727 - 1976. Charlottesville: Albemarle County Historical Society & University Press of Virginia.) On June 4, 1781, Jack Jouett warned the Virginia Legislature meeting at Monticello of an intended raid by Banastre Tarleton, allowing a narrow escape.

Unlike much of Virginia, Charlottesville was spared the brunt of the American Civil War. The only battle to take place in Charlottesville was the Skirmish at Rio Hill, in which George Armstrong Custer was repulsed by local Confederate militia. The city was later surrendered by the Mayor and others to spare the town from being burnt. The Charlottesville Factory, circa 1820-30, was accidentally burnt during General Sheridan's raid through the Shenandoah Valley in 1865. This factory was seized by the confederacy and used to manufacture woolen soldiers wear. The mill ignited when coals were taken by union troops to burn a near-by railroad bridge. The factory was rebuilt immediately after and known then on as the Woolen Mills until its liquidation in 1962.

Neighboring Counties:

Charlottesville is an independent city located within the confines of Albemarle County in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States

City Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resources

The history of our nation was a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names given the counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of this 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."