Pittsylvania County, Virginia
| Pittsylvania County, Virginia | ||
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Pittsylvania County Courthouse
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 Location in the U.S. state of Virginia |
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 Virginia's location in the U.S. |
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| Founded | 1767 | |
| Named for | William Pitt | |
| Seat | Chatham | |
| Largest town | Hurt | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 978 sq mi (2,533 km2) | |
| • Land | 969 sq mi (2,510 km2) | |
| • Water | 9 sq mi (23 km2), 0.9% | |
| Population (est.) | ||
| • (2015) | 62,194 | |
| • Density | 64/sq mi (25/km²) | |
| Congressional district | 5th | |
| Time zone | Eastern: UTC-5/-4 | |
| Website | www |
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Pittsylvania County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 63,506. Its county seat is Chatham.
Pittsylvania County is included in the Danville, VA Micropolitan Statistical Area.
The largest undeveloped uranium deposit in the United States — and the seventh largest in the world — is located in Pittsylvania County. (See Uranium mining in Virginia)
Originally "Pittsylvania" was a name suggested for an unrealized British colony to be located primarily in what is now West Virginia. Pittsylvania County would not have been within this proposed colony, subsequently known as Vandalia.
The county was formed in 1767 from Halifax County. It was named for William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1766 to 1768 and opposed harsh colonial policies.
In 1777 the western part of Pittsylvania County became Patrick Henry County.
Maud Clement's History of Pittsylvania County notes the following: ”Despite the settlers’ intentions, towns failed to develop for two reasons: the generally low level of economic activity in the area and the competition from plantation settlements already providing the kind of marketing and purchasing services typically offered by a town. Plantation settlements along the rivers, particularly at ferrying points, became commercial centers. The most important for early Pittsylvania was that of Sam Pannill, a Scots-Irishman, who at the end of the eighteenth century, while still a young man, set up a plantation town at Green Hill on the north side of the Staunton River in Campbell. (Clement 15)”
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