County Past
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Orange County, Virginia

Historic newspapers, landmarks, and county history layers for genealogists and local historians.

—newspaper titles
—digitized titles
35historic places
—earliest paper
1735formed
36,254pop. 2020
31cemeteries
9CW battlefields

At a glance

Summary

The National Register of Historic Places includes 35 listed properties in the county, first listed in 1966; 1 is also National Historic Landmark. Most listings are in or near Orange, Barboursville, Gordonsville.

Summary generated automatically from the source data on this page.

Newspapers

Library of Congress

Newspaper directory data for Virginia is not yet loaded on this site. Browse Orange titles at the Library of Congress.

National Register of Historic Places

NPS NRHP

8 of 35 listings mapped; some locations are restricted by NPS to protect sensitive sites.

35 listed properties
PropertyCityTypeListed
Ballard-Marshall HouseOrangeBuilding1988
BarboursvilleBarboursvilleBuilding1969
Berry HillOrange VicinityBuilding1980
Black MeadowGordonsvilleBuilding2005
BloomsburyOrangeBuilding1992
BurlingtonBarboursvilleBuilding1994
Chestnut HillOrangeBuilding2009
Exchange HotelGordonsvilleBuilding1973
FrascatiSomersetBuilding1982
Germanna SiteCulpepperSite1978
Gordonsville Historic DistrictGordonsvilleDistrict1983
GreenwoodOrangeBuilding1992
GrelenOrangeBuilding1998
Hampstead Farm Archeological DistrictBarboursvilleDistrict1984
Hare Forest FarmOrangeBuilding1992
LesslandCulpepperBuilding1999
Madison-Barbour Rural Historic DistrictBarboursvilleDistrict1991
MayhurstOrangeBuilding1969
Montpelier NHLOrangeDistrict1966
Mount Calvary Baptist ChurchOrangeBuilding2016
Mount SharonOrangeBuilding2013
Old ManseOrangeDistrict2018
Orange Commercial Historic DistrictOrangeDistrict1999
Orange County CourthouseOrangeBuilding1979
Orange High SchoolOrangeBuilding2001
Orange SpringsUnionvilleBuilding1992
Rebel HallOrangeBuilding2002
RocklandsGordonsvilleBuilding1982
RockwoodMontpelier StationBuilding2001
Somerset Christian ChurchOld SomersetBuilding1979
St. Thomas ChurchOrangeBuilding1976
TetleySomersetBuilding1991
Waddell Memorial Presbyterian ChurchRapidanBuilding1975
Willow GroveMadison MillsBuilding1979
WillstonOrangeBuilding2005

Source: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Property links open NRHP nomination files at the National Archives.

County formation

Newberry AHCB

Orange was formed in 1735 (1735-01-01) from Spotsylvania.

[1 January 1734/1735] ORANGE created from SPOTSYLVANIA. ORANGE extended westward to "the utmost limits of Virginia", including all of Kentucky and West Virginia [northern and western boundary limits indefinite].

Source: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

Population by decade

Census

Orange County population from 1790 to 2020 (Census historical series).

36k23k9,125179018001840188019101920196020002020
17901800182018401860188019001920194019501960198020002020
9,92111,44912,9139,12510,85113,05212,57113,32012,64912,75512,90018,06325,88136,254

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau historical county population (Forstall 1790–1990) and public-domain / CC0 county population series through 2020.

Cemeteries & historical places

USGS GNIS

31 cemeteries and 1 historical populated places (ghost towns / former settlements) recorded in USGS GNIS for this county.

Cemeteries — 31 of 31 listed
NameLatLon
Antioch Baptist Church Cemetery38.24429-77.87623
Bethel Cemetery38.2393-77.96027
Eheart Cemetery38.2073-78.33249
Emmanuel Cemetery38.30746-78.05977
Graham Cemetery38.24347-78.12639
James Madison Cemetery38.21763-78.17472
Kemper Cemetery38.27427-78.15471
Lewis Cemetery38.24013-78.01917
Maplewood Cemetery38.14651-78.20028
Mount Calvary Church Cemetery38.25069-78.01917
Mount Holy Cemetery38.3243-77.95777
Mount Horeb Cemetery38.14926-78.07166
Mount Lebanon Cemetery38.18374-78.34056
Mount Olive Cemetery38.24924-77.9186
Mount Pisgah Cemetery38.34819-77.88833
Mount Sinai Cemetery38.27124-77.91222
New Hope Cemetery38.26347-77.81194
North Pamunkey Cemetery38.19818-77.99638
Oakwood Cemetery38.25624-77.97
Orange Grove Cemetery38.1768-77.89611
Palmyra Cemetery38.34319-77.94027
Pilgrim Cemetery38.3455-77.74196
Rhoadesville Cemetery38.27069-77.92416
Salem Cemetery38.27708-77.88694
Shady Grove Cemetery38.16816-78.01352
Unionville Cemetery38.25902-77.96722
Watkins Cemetery38.1654-78.03238
West View Cemetery38.24291-78.13
Willis Cemetery38.15389-78.01739
Woodbury Cemetery38.13153-78.17487
Zoar Cemetery38.33196-77.82931
Historical populated places — 1 of 1
NameLatLon
Weyburn38.19097-78.24556

Source: USGS Geographic Names Information System (public domain). Cemeteries from the 2021 NationalFile archive; historical places from GNIS HistoricalFeatures topical extract.

Civil War battlefields nearby

ABPP

American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP) Civil War study areas near this county.

BattlefieldStudy acresDist.Site ID
Mine Run15,50716.9 kmVA044
Morton'S Ford5,66216.9 kmVA045
Cedar Mountain6,86017.9 kmVA022
Trevilian Station4,50520.9 kmVA099
Wilderness13,17324.0 kmVA046
Brandy Station13,91431.2 kmVA035
Kelly'S Ford3,12332.4 kmVA029
Chancellorsville21,86333.0 kmVA032
Spotsylvania Court House20,47133.0 kmVA048

Source: NPS American Battlefield Protection Program Civil War Study Areas (public ArcGIS feature service).

Historical markers

HMdb link

Marker text and photos from the Historical Marker Database (HMdb) are not embedded here. HMdb allows non-commercial reuse with attribution, but commercial/compensated use needs written permission; this is a commercial site, so we only link out.

Search HMdb for Orange County, Virginia

Terms: hmdb.org/copyright.asp. Linking is encouraged by HMdb.