Halifax County, Virginia

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

County Seat: Halifax
Year Organized: 1752
Square Miles: 814

Court House:

134 South Main Street, P.O. Box 699
County Courthouse
Halifax, VA 24558-3215

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Halifax is named for George Montague-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

Halifax County, Virginia formed from Lunenburg 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.]

Halifax County was named for George Montagu Dunk, second earl of Halifax, who was president of the Board of Trade from 1748 to 1761. It was formed from Lunenburg County in 1752. Its area is 805.7 square miles, and the county seat is Halifax. According to the 2000 census, its population is 37,355. The city of South Boston reverted to the county in 1995.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 830 square miles (2,149 km²), of which, 819 square miles (2,122 km²) of it is land and 10 square miles (27 km²) of it (1.24%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Campbell County, VA to the north
Caswell County, NC to the southwest
Charlotte County, VA to the northeast
Granville County, NC to the southeast
Mecklenburg County, VA to the east
Person County, NC to the south
Pittsylvania County, VA to the west

Cities and Towns:

- Halifax (County Seat)	town	Incorporated Area
- Scottsburg	town	Incorporated Area
- South Boston	town	Incorporated Area
- Virgilina	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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