Greensville County, Virginia

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

County Seat: Emporia
Year Organized: 1780
Square Miles: 296

Court House:

1750 East Atlantic Street
County Courthouse
Emporia, VA 23847-6584

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Greensville is either named for Nathanael Greene or for Richard Grenville, leader of the lost Roanoke Colony.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

Greensville County, Virginia formed from Brunswick and Sussex Counties. Legislative enactment in 1780. Organized in 1781. Sussex County gave only a small portion, probably 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.]

Greensville County was named for either Revolutionary War general Nathanael Greene or for Sir Richard Grenville, leader of the Roanoke Island settlement of 1585. The county was formed from Brunswick County in 1780. Part of Brunswick County was added in 1787 and part of Sussex County was added in 1802. Its area is 300 square miles, and the county seat is Emporia.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 297 square miles (769 km²), of which, 295 square miles (765 km²) of it is land and 1 square miles (4 km²) of it (0.46%) is water.

The Meherrin River forms the boundary between Greensville County and Southampton County.

Neighboring Counties:

Brunswick County, Virginia - west
Dinwiddie County, Virginia - north
Sussex County, Virginia - northeast
Southampton County, Virginia - east
Northampton County, North Carolina - south
Emporia, Virginia - center (enclave)

Cities and Towns:

- Jarratt

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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