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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.

Rappahannock County, Virginia

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

County Seat: Washington
Year Organized: 1833
Square Miles: 267

Court House:

290 Gay Street. PO Box 519
County Courthouse
Washington, VA 22747-0519

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Rappahannock is named for the Rappahannock River, named in turn for the Rappahannock Native American people

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

Rappahannock County, Virginia formed from Culpeper 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.]

Rappahannock County was named for the Rappahannock River, which in turn received its name from an Indian tribe that lived along its banks. There have been two Virginia counties named Rappahannock. The first was created from Lancaster in 1656 and became extinct in 1692 when it was divided into Essex and Richmond counties. The present county was formed from Culpeper County in 1833. Its area is 267 square miles, and the county seat is Washington.

Geography

The Rappahannock River forms the northeastern boundary and separates Rappahannock County from Fauquier County. Rappahannock County is bounded on the southeast by Culpeper County and on the southwest by Madison County. The Blue Ridge Mountains occupy much of the western portion of the county.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 267 square miles (691 km²), of which, 267 square miles (690 km²) of it is land and 0 square miles (1 km²) of it (0.10%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Warren County, Virginia - northwest
Fauquier County, Virginia - northeast
Culpeper County, Virginia - southeast
Madison County, Virginia - southwest
Page County, Virginia - west

Cities and Towns:

- Washington (County Seat)

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."

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