Cumberland County, Virginia

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

County Seat: Cumberland
Year Organized: 1749
Square Miles: 298

Court House:

P.O. Box 110, 1 Courthouse Circle
County Courthouse
Cumberland, VA 23040-0110

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Cumberland is named for Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, son of George II of Great Britain.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

Cumberland County, Virginia formed from Goochland and Buckingham Counties. Legislative enactment in 1748. Organized in 1749. Buckingham gave only a small portion at a later date. [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.]

Cumberland County was named for William Augustus, duke of Cumberland, third son of George II. It was formed from Goochland County in 1749. Its area is 298 square miles, and the county seat is Cumberland.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 300 square miles (776 km²), of which, 298 square miles (773 km²) of it is land and 1 square miles (3 km²) of it (0.43%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Amelia County, VA to the southeast
Buckingham County, VA to the west
Fluvanna County, VA to the north
Goochland County, VA to the northeast
Powhatan County, VA to the east
Prince Edward County, VA to the south

Cities and Towns:

- Cumberland (County Seat)

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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