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Virginia Counties

The Commonwealth of Virginia is divided into 95 counties and 39 independent cities, which are considered county-equivalents for census purposes.

Northumberland County, Virginia

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

County Seat: Heathsville
Year Organized: 1648
Square Miles: 192

Court House:

P.O. Box 129
County Courthouse
Heathsville, VA 22473-0129

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Northumberland is probably named for the English county of Northumberland.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

Northumberland County, Virginia formed from York County. According to Robinson, it was formed from the Indian District, Chickacoan. [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.]

Northumberland County probably was named for the English county. It was formed about 1645 , although not authorized until 1648, rom the district of Chickacoan, the early-seventeenth-century name for the region between the Potomac and the Rappahannock rivers. Its area is 223 square miles, and the county seat is Heathsville.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 286 square miles (740 km²), of which, 192 square miles (498 km²) of it is land and 93 square miles (242 km²) of it (32.68%) is water. The county is located between the Rappahannock River and Potomac River.

Neighboring Counties:

Lancaster County, VA to the south
Richmond County, VA to the west
Westmoreland County, VA to the northwest

Cities and Towns:

- Heathsville (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."

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