Campbell County was named for General William Campbell, who in 1780 during the Revolutionary War, won fame in the Battle of King's Mountain. It is located in south-central Virginia, bounded by the counties of Appomattox, Charlotte, Bedford, Amherst, and Pittsylvania.

Chesterfield County is part of the Richmond-Petersburg MSA and is bounded by the cities of Richmond, Petersburg, Hopewell and Colonial Heights, and the counties of Henrico, Powhatan, Amelia, Dinwiddie, and Prince George. Situated between the James and Appomattox Rivers, Chesterfield's land area totals 446 square miles.

Located in Southwest Virginia, Dickenson County borders the state of Kentucky and the counties of Buchanan, Russell, and Wise. Dickenson County was formed from Wise, Russell, and Buchanan Counties in 1880. Dickenson County was named after W. J. Dickenson, a member of the Virginia General Assembly. Dickenson is the youngest county in Virginia; therefore, it is called "Virginia's Baby."

Before the 1800's the only people to move through the area were Indians and hunters, both used the area as hunting grounds. The first settlements were at Sandlick (Richard "Fighting Dick" Colley) and Holly Creek (John Mullins). Holly Creek later became Clintwood. Today, Clinchco, Clintwood, and Haysi are the only incorporated towns in the county. The county seat is located in Clintwood.

wp

"Fairfax" and "Culpeper" are names closely linked in the formation of Virginia, though the counties today are not adjacent to each other. The civil war in England in the mid-1600's led to King Charles I having his head chopped off and his son fleeing to France. While in exile, and before the tables turned and he was crowned Charles II in 1660, the son rewarded his few allies (a grand total of seven) with grants of land in the Northern Neck of Virginia in September, 1649, although of he didn't ensure legal title until he regained the throne eleven years later. The Virginia colonial government resisted the grant because it reduced the control of the House of Burgesses over the land between the Rappahannock and the Potomac rivers. In 1675 Lord Culpeper became Governor of Virginia and brought together all the claims to the grant. When Lord Culpeper died, his daughter Katherine Culpeper inherited 5/6th of the "proprietorship." Her mother retained 1/6th ownership until her death. Katherine Culpeper married Thomas, Fifth Lord Fairfax, and their son Thomas, Sixth Lord Fairfax, ultimately inherited it all in 1719. The Culpepers and Fairfaxes had been on opposite sides of the English Civil War, but the Restoration in 1660 had put that dispute behind them. (There are far more twists in the story. See The Fairfax Family in Fairfax County: A Brief History, by Kenton Kilmer and Donald Sweig for a straightforward explanation of the details.) Thomas, Sixth Lord Fairfax, allowed Virginia agents (primarily Robert "King" Carter) to manage the proprietary until the early 1730's. Continued legislative threats to his legal rights, plus the death of Rober Carter, triggered Fairfax to get the Privy Council in London to order a final survey of the boundaries of his ownership. The 1688 patent had described the western boundary as the "first heads or springs" of the Rappahannock and Potomac rivers, and Robert Carter had claimed in 1706 that this included all the area between the Rapidan and Rappahannock rivers. Virginia claimed the Fairfax grant was limited to the area between the confluence of the Shenandoah and the Potomac (Harpers Ferry today), and the falls of the Rappahannock (Fredericksburg today). For the 1736 survey, Governor Gooch of Virginia appointed three commissioners, Lord Fairfax appointed three - and then each side also appointed three surveyors. (Lord Fairfax had George Washington surveying his western lands starting in 1748, years later...) Not surprisingly, separate maps were created by the two sides after the survey, and it took eight years before officials in England decided finally in favor of Lord Fairfax. A year later, in 1746, a "back line" was surveyed between the headwaters of the Rapidan and the Potomac. The Fairfax Stone was set at the north end, and this time all the surveyors agreed on the boundary - which set aside over 5 million acres of Virginia for Lord Fairfax. Lord Fairfax had come to Virginia in 1735 to defend his claim to the land, returned to England in 1737 to negotiate with the Privy Council, and then returned again to Virginia in 1747. In 1742, while Lord Fairfax himself was in England, the colony carved out a new county from Prince William and named it after Lord Fairfax. Lord Fairfax was a life-long bachelor. After he returned to Virginia in 1747, he lived at his cousin William Fairfax's home, Belvoir (now the site of Fort Belvoir), before building a hunting lodge he titled grandly "Greenway Court" - far away from the settled Tidewater, west of the Blue Ridge. He added a stone house and settled there permanently in 1761, essentially on the frontier. Though his reasons will never be known for sure, there is some evidence that he was rejected by a woman he intended to marry before he came to Virginia in 1735. He stayed neutral during the Revolutionary War, and died in December, 1781 (after Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown). After 10 years of negotiating and lawsuits, the new Commonwealth of Virginia acquired title to the Fairfax lands that had not already been granted to anyone, and a real estate syndicate purchased Greenway Court and other properties clearly owned by heirs of Lord Fairfax.

Describe site and services provided.

Open to all sites based in the whole of Floyd County in Southwestern Virginia. According to the United States Postal Service, the following towns are within Floyd County, Virginia:

• Floyd City

Willis

Hanover County has a total area of 472 square miles with an estimated population of 81,000. It is located in the northern portion of the metropolitan Richmond area.

Open to all sites related to the whole of King George County in the Northern Neck Region of Virginia. According to the United States Postal Service, the following towns are within King George County, Virginia:

• Dahlgren
• Dogue
• Jersey
• King George
• Ninde
• Rollins Fork
• Sealston
• Shiloh

Approximately 20 miles northeast of Richmond, 286 square miles of gently rolling farmland and scenic timberland nestled between the Pamunkey and Mattaponi rivers. King William is home to the only Native American Indian reservations in the Commonwealth of Virginia and to the oldest courthouse in continuous use in the United States.

The History of Loudoun County The Past Situated at the very tip of northern Virginia, Loudoun County is rich in both beautiful lands and Civil War history.

In 1757 the western stretch of Fairfax County was split off to form a new county which was bordered by the romantic slopes of the ancient Blue Ridge Mountains to the west, the rushing waters of the Potomac River to the north, sister fox-hunting country (Fauquier County) to the south, and the mother county of Fairfax to the east. Historical records show Loudoun County was originally created as an attempt (or appeasement) to encourage the Scottish peer - John Campbell, 4th Earl of Loudoun and newly appointed Commander in Chief of British forces in American - into mustering his considerable army to aid the colonists fight against the French and Indians. The hopeless attempt failed, due mostly to the fact that (as writer David R. Williams put it) "...according to all historical accounts, Lord Loudoun's remarkable prowess in being one of the most inept, incompetent, arrogant, cowardly, and tyrannical agents of the British crown that American colonials ever suffered under is without peer. Despite being in America for only two short years, from 1756 when he was appointed military commander of all the British troops in North America, to 1758 when he was fired by his own government, he managed to leave quite a trail of debris behind him [all of which was used as kindling to ignite the flames of American Independence]. And because our county was formed in 1757, we got stuck with his name and motto - I byde my time." Despite her infamous namesake and lackluster motto, Loudoun County quickly rose to the forefront during the American Revolution, sending more men to the ranks of General Washington's army than any other county in Virginia. By the early 1800's her wooded landscapes were giving way to large open farms. The foxhunting elite settled in her southwestern stretch between Middleburg and Upperville to chase among her rolling fields, and even today that area is still known as The Hunt County. During the raging years of the Civil War, Loudoun's fields were bathed in the blood of both Union and Confederate soldiers. Both sides fought bitterly back and forth across her lands, the events later immortalized in numerous books by local authors. The 200 year old gravel roads in the western stretch still resonate several times a year with the gunfire and marching of numerous reenactors who deem themselves truly blessed to be walking the same untouched byways as their heroes from yesteryear.

The Present Today the western portion of Loudoun is a tourist mecca with a rich, unspoiled countryside devoted to mostly agriculture, and Thoroughbred and sport horse farms. The eastern portion of the county has seen phenomenal growth in the high tech and computer industries, and the proximity to Washington, DC on a hour east is a draw for business, capital investment, and new residents - a mixture that has moved Loudoun into first place as one of the fastest growing counties in the United States. Such a diverse mix is both a boon and a bane to citizens and county government alike. Yet far from emulating the long out-dated motto, Loudoun continues to more forward positively into the future - recognizing her unique position as a trend setter and leader in industry, business, agriculture, tourism, and conservation.

Northumberland County is situated on the Northern Neck of Virginia, a peninsula bounded by the Rappahannock and Potomac Rivers and the Chesapeake Bay. Heathsville, the county seat, is 120 miles southeast of Washington, DC, 70 miles east of the state capital of Richmond, and 70 miles northeast of Williamsburg. The county's 223 square miles are mostly flat to gently rolling terrain.

Source

Orange County is located in Virginia's Central Piedmont Region, 75 miles south of Washington DC, 75 miles northwest of Richmond, and 25 miles northeast of Charlottesville.

Orange County covers some 355 square miles or 227,000 acres in the north Piedmont of Virginia The topography ranges from steep and rolling hills in the northern part of the County to fairly level land in the southern portion. Elevations range from 200 to 1,200 feet above sea level. The average temperature in the summer is 75.8 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter the temperature averages 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Annual precipitation averages 41 inches and the average snowfall is 17 inches.

There are two incorporated towns in the County. The Town of Orange is the County Seat and has a population of 3,550. The Town of Gordonsville has a population of 1,500. Both towns are centrally located in the County. There is also a large, planned community, Lake of the Woods, on the eastern end of the County.

Web site serving many locations in Prince William County, Virginia

Smyth County, named in honor of General Alexander Smyth, was formed on February 23, 1832 from parts of Washington and Wythe Counties. Smyth County is located in the Southwestern part of Virginia.

Spotsylvania County is located in Central Virginia. The largest city within the county is Fredericksburg. Spotsylvania County has historical significance since many battles and skirmishes of the Civil War were fought in this county.

Historic Crab Orchard Museum in Tazewell County, Virginia is the most comprehensive cultural heritage institution in the central Appalachians. The Appalachian Region extends from western New York state to Arkansas. It is the source of most of the coal mined in the eastern United States.

The County of York, Virginia, part of the Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), is located on the Virginia Peninsula between the James and York Rivers. The 108-square-mile county is 27 miles long, 6 miles wide at its broadest point, and ranges in elevation from sea level to 124 feet above sea level. There are more than 200 miles of coastline along the York River and other creeks and estuaries. The County lies 50 miles from Richmond and 25 miles from Norfolk, and borders the cities of Poquoson, Hampton, Newport News, Williamsburg and James City and Gloucester Counties. During its 350-year history, the County of York has figured prominently in both the political and economic history of the Virginia Peninsula, the Commonwealth, and the Nation. The port of Yorktown, which remains the seat of government, was the site of the final battle of the American Revolution where on October 19, 1781, Lord Cornwallis surrendered his British Army to the combined American-French forces under Washington and Rochambeau. Yorktown also figured prominently in the Civil War, serving as a major port to supply both northern and southern towns, depending on who held Yorktown at the time. After World War II, one of the nation's largest and most diversified military-industrial complexes emerged in the Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News MSA, spawning numerous small precision machine, metal fabrication and technical research companies. The influence of the early waterman remains active; seafood processing, ship building, and ship repair prosper. From the York County Board of Tourism web site, http://www.yorkcounty.gov/tourism/yorkhist.htm