Place Names in Virginia

Virginia County Names: Two Hundred and Seventy Years of Virginia History by Charles M. Long (1908)

Towns disappear and county boundaries change so historic maps and gazetteers are essential. They’re available in print and online. Here are two of my favorites:

Henry Gannett. A Gazetteer of Virginia. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1904

Researchers will be drawn to its alphabetical list of places and their various levels of description e.g. “Deane; post village in Nansemond County on the Norfolk and Carolina railroad” and “Nansemond; county; situated in the southeastern part of the State on the Atlantic plain. It includes the western portion of the great Dismal Swamp with the bluffs and high ground bordering on the west. The high parts of the county consists of undulating country, rarely exceeding 100 feet in altitude. Area, 393 square miles. Population, 23,078—white, 10,115; negro, 12,962; foreign born, 88. County seat, Suffolk. …. The county is traversed by the Atlantic Coast Line, the Norfolk and Western, the Seaboard Air Line, the Suffolk and Carolina, the Seaboard and Roanoke, and the Southern Railroads.”

But this volume opens with a general description of the state that should not be overlooked: topography, climate, population, employment, agriculture (farms, livestock, crops), manufacturing (general statistics, classes of products), railway, and mining.

Charles M. Long, Ph.D. Virginia County Names: Two Hundred and Seventy Years of Virginia History.  New York: The Neale Publishing Company, 1908
Here’s a sample of chapter titles: “Thirteen Counties Named After Prominent Englishmen,” “Counties Named After Eleven Revolutionary Patriots,” “Counties Named After Famous Virginians,” “Counties Named After Thirteen Virginia Governors,” “Nine Indian County Names,” and “Four Names for Natural Features.”