Essex County, Virginia

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

County Seat: Tappahannock
Year Organized: 1692
Square Miles: 258

Court House:

P.O. Box 1079
County Courthouse
Tappahannock, VA 22560-1079

Etymology - Origin of County Name

The county is named for either the shire or county in England, or for the Earl of Essex.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

Essex County, Virginia formed from (Old) Rapphannock County (extinguished). [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.]

Essex County was named for the English county. It was formed from Old Rappahhannock County in 1692. Its area is 261 square miles, and the county seat is Tappahannock. According to the 2000 census, the population is 9,989. Courthouse also has records from Old Rappahannock County.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 286 square miles (740 km²), of which, 258 square miles (668 km²) of it is land and 28 square miles (73 km²) of it (9.84%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Caroline County, VA to the west
King and Queen County, VA to the south
King George County, VA to the north
Middlesex County, VA to the southeast
Richmond County, VA to the east
Westmoreland County, VA to the northeast

Cities and Towns:

- Tappahannock (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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