Gloucester County, Virginia

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

County Seat: Gloucester
Year Organized: 1651
Square Miles: 217

Court House:

P.O. Box 329
County Courthouse
Gloucester, VA 23061-0329

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Gloucester is either named for the English county of Gloucester or in honor of Henry, Duke of Gloucester, Charles I of England's son.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

Gloucester County, Virginia formed from York County. [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.]

Gloucester County was probably named for the English county, although it may have been meant to honor Henry, duke of Gloucester, the third son of Charles I. It was formed from York County in 1651. Its area is 225 square miles, and the county seat is Gloucester. According to the 2000 census, its population is 34,780. Gloucester is one of the Commonwealth's Burned Records Counties. All county court records were destroyed by an 1820 fire, and most of the records created after that date were destroyed in Richmond on 3 April 1865. Six minute books from the nineteenth century and two surveyor's record books survive.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 288 square miles (746 km²), of which, 217 square miles (561 km²) of it is land and 71 square miles (185 km²) of it (24.79%) is water

Neighboring Counties:

James City County, VA to the southwest
King and Queen County, VA to the west
Mathews County, VA to the east
Middlesex County, VA to the north
York County, VA to the south

Cities and Towns:

- Gloucester (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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