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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.

York County, Virginia

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

County Seat: Yorktown
Year Organized: 1634
Square Miles: 106

Court House:

P.O. Box 532
County Courthouse
Yorktown, VA 23690-0532

Etymology - Origin of County Name

York is named for James II of England, created Duke of York in 1644.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

York County, Virginia formed from Charles River County (name change only). Legislative enactment in 1642. Organized in 1643. [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.]

Formed in 1642 as one of the eight original shires (counties) of the Virginia Colony. York County was originally named Charles River County, for Charles I, and was one of the eight shires formed in 1634. The present name was given in 1643, probably in honor of James, duke of York, the second son of Charles I. Its area is 106 square miles, and the county seat is Yorktown.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 216 square miles (558 km²), of which, 106 square miles (274 km²) of it is land and 110 square miles (285 km²) of it (50.98%) is water. It is near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.

Also, in terms of population clusters, the County is divided by the vast expanse of federal land in the mid-section of the county. The southern portion of the County is fairly dense with suburban developments and contains the majority of the county's population and growth. The northern portion is more connected with the Williamsburg community than Yorktown and, although less populous than the south, is also fairly dense. Having not seen a significant amount of growth until recently, the northern portion is now seeing the development of new communities and shopping centers.

Neighboring Counties:

Gloucester County, Virginia (northeast, across the York River)
Mathews County, Virginia (east, water boundary only, in Chesapeake Bay)
Northampton County, Virginia (east, water boundary only, in Chesapeake Bay)
Poquoson, Virginia (southeast)
Hampton, Virginia (south)
Newport News, Virginia (southwest)
James City County, Virginia (west)
Williamsburg, Virginia (west)

Cities and Towns:

- Hampton	city	Incorporated Area
- Yorktown (County Seat)

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."