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Virginia Counties

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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.

Wise County, Virginia

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

County Seat: Wise
Year Organized: 1856
Square Miles: 403

Court House:

P.O. Box 570
County Courthouse
Wise, VA 24293-0570

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Wise is named for Governor of Virginia, Henry Alexander Wise

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

In 1856, Wise County, Virginia formed from Lee, Russell, and Scott Counties. [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.]

Wise County was named for Henry Alexander Wise, governor of Virginia from 1856 to 1860. It was formed in 1856 from Lee, Russell and Scott Counties. Its area is 404 square miles, and the county seat is Wise.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 405 square miles (1,050 km²), of which, 404 square miles (1,046 km²) of it is land and 1 square miles (3 km²) of it (0.29%) is water. The county is part of the Appalachians and has many mountainous features, including the peak of High Knob and Powell Valley.

Neighboring Counties:

Dickenson County, VA to the northeast
Harlan County, KY to the west
Lee County, VA to the southwest
Letcher County, KY to the northwest
Pike County, KY to the north
Russell County, VA to the east
Scott County, VA to the south

Cities and Towns:

- Appalachia	town	Incorporated Area
- Big Stone Gap	town	Incorporated Area
- Coeburn	town	Incorporated Area
- Pound	town	Incorporated Area
- St. Paul	town	Incorporated Area
- Wise (County Seat)	town	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resources

The history of our nation was a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names given the counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of this 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."