Tazewell County, Virginia

Tazewell County, Virginia
Tazewell County Courthouse
Seal
Location in the U.S. state of Virginia
Virginia's location in the U.S.
Founded	December 20, 1799
Named for	Henry Tazewell
Seat	Tazewell
Largest town	Richlands
Area
• Total	520 sq mi (1,347 km2)
• Land	519 sq mi (1,344 km2)
• Water	1.1 sq mi (3 km2), 0.2%
Population (est.)
• (2015)	42,899
• Density	82/sq mi (32/km²)
Congressional district	9th
Time zone	Eastern: UTC-5/-4
Website	tazewellcountyva.org

Tazewell County is a county located in the southwestern portion of the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 45,078. Its county seat is Tazewell.

Tazewell County is part of the Bluefield, WV-VA Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Before the arrival of pioneers, Tazewell County was a hunting ground for Native Americans. Although rare in the eastern United States, there are petroglyphs near the summit of Paintlick Mountain.

In the spring of 1771, Thomas and John Witten established the first permanent settlement in Tazewell County at Crab Orchard.

Tazewell County was created on December 20, 1799. The land for the county was taken from portions of Wythe and Russell counties. It was named after Henry Tazewell, a United States Senator from Virginia, state legislator and judge. Delegate Littleton Waller Tazewell originally opposed the formation of the new county but when Simon Cotterel, who drew up the bill to form the county, changed the originally proposed name of the county to Tazewell's namesake, in honor of his father Henry who had died earlier that year. The bill passed.

Jeffersonville was established the following year (1800) as the county seat. On February 29, 1892, Jeffersonville was renamed Tazewell.

Paramount's 1994 film Lassie was filmed here.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 520 square miles (1,300 km²), of which 519 square miles (1,340 km²) is land and 1.1 square miles (2.8 km²) (0.2%) is water.