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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.

Powhatan County, Virginia

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

County Seat: Powhatan
Year Organized: 1777
Square Miles: 261

Court House:

3834 Old Buckingham Road

Suite A
County Courthouse
Powhatan, VA 23139-7051

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Powhatan is named for Wahunsunacock, called Powhatan.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

Powhatan County, Virginia formed from Cumberland and Chesterfield Counties. Chesterfield gave only a small portion in 1849-50. [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.]

Powhatan County was named for the Indian chieftain who ruled the native inhabitants of tidewater Virginia in the early seventeenth century. It was formed from Cumberland County in 1777, and part of Chesterfield County was added later. Its area is 272 square miles, and the county seat is Powhatan.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 262 square miles (680 km²), of which, 261 square miles (677 km²) of it is land and 1 square miles (3 km²) of it (0.43%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Amelia County, VA to the south
Chesterfield County, VA to the southeast
Cumberland County, VA to the west
Goochland County, VA to the north
Henrico County, VA to the east

Cities and Towns:

- Powhatan (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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