Qualla: Washington County, Virginia

Washington County, Virginia: Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit RebelAt at English Wikipedia, Public domain. In 1776 the Virginia legislature looked at a map and split off the southwestern corner of the colony into a new county. The general fighting their war had not yet won it - George Washington that summer was retreating across New Jersey with an army that was disintegrating. Naming a county for him was a political wager. If he lost, the name would be embarrassing. If he won, it would be one of the first counties anywhere honoring the man. Washington County, Virginia, became one of the very first geographic regions in America named for the future president, two and a half years before the Treaty of Paris was even possible.

Image: RebelAt at English Wikipedia | Public domain

Washington County, Virginia: Before Virginia

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Rutke421 (talk) 16:09, 23 December 2008 (UTC), CC BY-SA 3.0. The land had been lived in for thousands of years. The Chisca had a chief village near what is now Saltville until Spanish soldiers destroyed it in 1568. The Cherokee took control of the broader region from the Xualae around 1671, and held it until the 1770 Treaty of Lochaber tra...

Image: Rutke421 (talk) 16:09, 23 December 2008 (UTC) | CC BY-SA 3.0

Washington County, Virginia: The Shape of the County

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nyttend, Public domain. Washington County was much bigger when it started in 1776. The legislature kept carving pieces off as the population grew. In 1786 the northwestern corner became Russell County. In 1814 the western reach was combined with parts of Lee and Russell to form Scott County. In 1832 a c...

Image: Nyttend | Public domain

Washington County, Virginia: A Literary Place

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Rutke421 (talk) 00:32, 7 July 2009 (UTC), CC BY-SA 3.0. Barbara Kingsolver - the novelist who won the Pulitzer and the Women's Prize for Fiction for Demon Copperhead in 2023, a contemporary retelling of David Copperfield set in southwest Virginia coal country - lives in Washington County. She farms here. The county has produced govern...

Image: Rutke421 (talk) 00:32, 7 July 2009 (UTC) | CC BY-SA 3.0

Washington County, Virginia: After Helene

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit RebelAt at English Wikipedia, CC BY 2.5. Hurricane Helene swept north through the southern Appalachians in late September 2024 with rain that washed out roads and bridges across Damascus and the southern parts of Washington County. The Appalachian Trail community in Damascus took the brunt of it. On January 27, 2025, Vi...

Image: RebelAt at English Wikipedia | CC BY 2.5