Charles City County, Virginia

Charles City County is a county located in the U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated southeast of Richmond and west of Jamestown. It is bounded on the south by the James River and on the east by the Chickahominy River.

Charles City County
County
County of Charles City
Iona Whitehead-Adkins Courthouse
Flag Seal Logo
Location within the U.S. state of Virginia
Virginia's location within the U.S.
Coordinates: 37°21′N 77°04′W
Country	United States
State	Virginia
Founded	1619
Named for	Charles I of England
Seat	Charles City
Area
• Total	204 sq mi (530 km2)
• Land	183 sq mi (470 km2)
• Water	21 sq mi (50 km2)  10.5%
Population  (2020)
• Total	6,773
• Density	33/sq mi (13/km2)
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
Congressional district	4th
Website	www.charlescityva.us

Charles City County, Virginia from 1895 state map

The area that would become Charles City County was first established as "Charles Cittie" by the Virginia Company in 1619. It was one of the first four "boroughs" of Virginia, and was named in honor of Prince Charles, who would later become King Charles I of England. After Virginia became a royal colony, the borough was changed to "Charles City Shire" in 1634, as one of the five original Shires of Virginia. It acquired the present name of Charles City County in 1643.

In the 21st century, Charles City County is part of the Greater Richmond Region of the state of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 6,773; it is still relatively rural and one of smaller counties in Virginia by population. Its county seat is the community of Charles City.

Notable natives include the 9th and 10th presidents of the United States, William Henry Harrison and John Tyler.

History

Native Americans

Various Indian tribes had used this area for thousands of years. When the region was explored by the English in the 17th century, the Algonquian-speaking Chickahominy tribe inhabited areas along the Chickahominy River that was later named for them by English colonists. The Paspahegh lived in Sandy Point, and the Weanoc lived in the Weyanoke Neck area. The latter two tribes were part of the Powhatan Confederacy. At the time of the earliest English settlement, the independent Chickahominy people occupied territory surrounded by numerous tribes of the powerful Powhatan Confederacy, but they were not part of it. Chickahominy descendants still inhabit the region. These three tribes were all Algonquian-speaking tribes, the language family of the varied peoples who occupied the Tidewater and low country in Virginia and along the East Coast from Canada to south of the Carolinas.

The English named the Weyanoke Peninsula after the Weyanoc tribe, whom they encountered in the area. The Weyanoc were gradually displaced by colonial encroachment. They merged with other, larger tribes about the time of Bacon's Rebellion (1676-1677).

English colonization

The English began to colonize the area under the auspices of the Virginia Company, a private company formed to support this effort and gain profits from expected development and trade.

In 1619, the Virginia Company established Charles Cittie [sic] as one of the first four "boroughs" or "incorporations" in the region. West of James County, it was named for Prince Charles, second son of King James I of England, who became the Prince of Wales and heir apparent after the death of his older brother Henry in 1612. After his father's death, he became King Charles I of England.

1619 marked the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in the Tidewater area. They had been captured from a Spanish ship and were taken to Weyanoke Peninsula. They were treated as indentured servants in the colony, and at least one later became a landowner after gaining his freedom. They created the first African community in what became the United States. Weyanoke, Virginia continues as a small, unincorporated community.

The Virginia Company lost its charter in 1624 under King James I, and Virginia became a royal colony. Charles City Shire was formed in 1634 in the Virginia Colony by order of the King. Its name was changed to Charles City County in 1643. It is one of the five original shires in Virginia that are extant in essentially the same political entity (county) as they were originally formed in 1634. Colonists developed the land as tobacco plantations and produced this commodity crop for export.

Cultivation and processing of this crop required intensive labor. The wealthier planters recruited indentured servants from the British Isles and Africa, and later purchased numerous enslaved Africans. In Virginia and the Upper South, historians have classified persons holding 20 or more slaves as planters.

The majority of the colonists were English people who arrived as indentured servants and who owed labor, often as much as seven years, to wealthy patrons who had paid for their passage to gain land and laborers. The English government offered land grants to these patrons under a headright system, which was a way to encourage settlement in the colony. During the 17th century, for economic times encouraged many to settle in the North American colonies. In the early years, the Chesapeake Bay Colony had many more men than women, but more women entered began emigrating and families were begun.

As the indentured servants worked off their passage, they would be granted land of their own. By then the most successful planter families already controlled the valuable riverfront property. This gave them ready access to the waterways, the transportation system for trade and travel. Hence, later planters generally settled in the upland section of the county.

The original central city of the county was Charles City Point, located south of the James River at the confluence of the Appomattox River. The first Charles City County courthouses were located along the James River at Westover on the north side and at City Point on the south side. The latter's name was shortened from Charles City Point.

Crossing the James River on Benjamin Harrison Bridge from the South to enter Charles City County

Breaking off other counties and cities

In 1703, all of the original area of Charles City County south of the James River was severed to form Prince George County. This in turn was later divided, in a pattern typical of colonial development, into several other counties and independent cities. From Charles City County through Prince George County came Brunswick County in 1732; Amelia County in 1735; and Prince Edward County in 1754. The incorporated town of City Point, then in Prince George County, was annexed by the independent city of Hopewell in 1923.

After 1703, Charles City County was limited to land on the north bank of the James River, between James City County to its east and Henrico County to its west (both also previously colonial shires). Charles City County is bordered by New Kent County to its north and Henrico County to its north-west. During the late 19th century, numerous crossroads communities developed among the plantations to serve the religious, educational and mercantile needs of the citizenry of rural Charles City County. Crossroad communities, such as Adkins Store, Cedar Grove, Binns Hall, Parrish Hill, Ruthville and Wayside, typically included a store, church and school. (Public schools were not established until after the Civil War, when the Reconstruction legislature founded the system.)

All told, five counties: Prince George County, Brunswick, Dinwiddie, Amelia, and Prince Edward; and three independent cities: Hopewell, Petersburg and Colonial Heights have been formed from the original territory of Charles City Shire.

Early Religion

As in other parts of the Tidewater, common planters and merchants of Charles City County were attracted by the appeal of Methodist and Baptist preachers in the Great Awakening in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Several Methodist and Baptist churches were established in the early 19th century, mostly in the upland areas of the county. The county also had numerous Quaker settlers. The elite planters of the James River plantations tended to remain Anglican; the United States Episcopal Church was founded after the American Revolution.

Black Americans

With the growth of tobacco as a cash crop, demand for workers increased. Twenty-three African slaves were known to have been brought to Charles City County before 1660. During the late 1600s and early 1700s, African slave labor rapidly supplanted European indentured servants. By the eighteenth century, slaves had become the major source of agricultural labor in the Virginia Colony, then devoted primarily to the labor-intensive commodity crop of tobacco.

The earliest record of a free black living in Charles City County is the September 16, 1677, petition for freedom by a woman named Susannah. The Lott Cary House in the county has long been honored as the birth site of Lott Cary, a slave who purchased his freedom and that of his children. In the 19th century, he became a founding father of the new country of Liberia in Africa.

Beginning as early as the 17th century, some planters freed individual slaves by manumission. Some free mixed-race families, established before the American Revolution, were formed by descendants of unions or marriages between white indentured or free women and African men, indentured, slave or free. Colonial law and the principle of partus sequitur ventrem, provided that children were born into the status of their mother. Thus, the mixed-race children of white women were born free. If illegitimate, they had to serve time in lengthy apprenticeships, but freedom gave them an important step forward.

In the first two decades after the American Revolution, numerous planters in Charles City County freed their slaves, persuaded by Quaker, Baptist and Methodist abolitionists. Many free blacks settled together in today's Ruthville, Virginia, a crossroads and one of the first free-black communities in present-day Charles City County and the state of Virginia. The unincorporated town of Ruthville was the center of the county's free black population for many years. Following emancipation, Ruthville became the site of the Mercantile Cooperative Company and the Ruthville Training School. The United Sorghum Growers Club also met here. Known previously by several other names, the name "Ruthville" recalls local resident Ruth Brown. Her name was selected for the local Post Office established there in 1880.

When the Union Army began recruiting black troops during the American Civil War, many black Americans from Charles City County enlisted. In 1864, United States Colored Troops stationed at Fort Pocahontas roundly repelled an attack by 2500 Confederate troops commanded by Major General Fitzhugh Lee, nephew of General Robert E. Lee.

Virginia established statewide legal racial segregation when white Democrats regained control of the state legislature. They disfranchised most blacks at the turn of the century, maintaining this exclusion until after passage of civil rights legislation. In 1968, following passage of the federal Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act of the 1960s, and federal enforcement of the black franchise, James Bradby of Charles City County was the first black American Virginian to be elected to the position of County Sheriff.

James River plantations

Charles City County id the location of several historic plantations.

• Berkeley Plantation is the birthplace of William Henry Harrison, ninth president of the United States, born on February 9, 1773.
• Greenway Plantation is the birthplace of John Tyler, the tenth president, was born in 1790.
• Sherwood Forest Plantation was bought by John Tyler in 1842. Tyler descendants have resided at Sherwood Forest Plantation continuously since then.
• Shirley Plantation was the home of the Edward Hill family, including two Speakers of the House of Burgesses in the 17th century. The fourth generation Edward Hill died as a teenager, after one of his sisters married John Carter of Coromatan Plantation in Lancaster County, the son of King Carter. Their son Charles Hill Carter inherited Shirley Plantation before the American Revolutionary War, although he also inherited Coromatan and transferred his main residence there. Nonetheless, Shirley Plantation has remained in the family, operated by three men named Hill Carter in the 19th century, and later by descendants of General Robert E. Lee (his mother, Ann Hill Carter, was Charles Hill Carter's daughter) who still live and work the plantation today.
• Westover Plantation was first occupied in 1619 and was the home of Captain Thomas Palett in 1637. Westover was the home of Richard Bland, William Byrd I, and William Byrd II (founder of Richmond). It was William Byrd the III that built the current mansion around 1750. The plantation is the resting place of William Byrd I, and William Byrd II. The plantation has had eight owners since the Byrd family possessed the property. During the Civil War, Major General Fitz John Porter was stationed at Westover. General Porter was the protégé to Major General George McClellan who occupied nearby Berkeley Plantation.

Geography

Ruthville, VA
Climate chart (explanation)
J F M A M J J A S O N D     3.2     48 27     2.9     52 29     4     61 36     3.3     71 45     3.9     78 54     3.5     86 64     4.4     89 68     4.3     88 67     4     81 59     3.2     71 47     3.4     62 39     3.4     51 30 █ Average max. and min. temperatures in °F █ Precipitation totals in inches
Metric conversion J F M A M J J A S O N D     81     9 −3     74     11 −2     102     16 2     84     22 7     99     26 12     89     30 18     112     32 20     109     31 19     102     27 15     81     22 9     86     17 4     86     11 −1 █ Average max. and min. temperatures in °C █ Precipitation totals in mm

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 204 square miles (530 km²), of which 183 square miles (470 km²) is land and 21 square miles (54 km²) (10.5%) is water.

Adjacent counties

• New Kent County – north
• James City County – east
• Surry County – southeast
• Prince George County – south
• Chesterfield County – southwest
• Henrico County – west

Demographics

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1790	5,588		—
1800	5,365		−4.0%
1810	5,186		−3.3%
1820	5,255		1.3%
1830	5,500		4.7%
1840	4,774		−13.2%
1850	5,200		8.9%
1860	5,609		7.9%
1870	4,975		−11.3%
1880	5,512		10.8%
1890	5,066		−8.1%
1900	5,040		−0.5%
1910	5,253		4.2%
1920	4,793		−8.8%
1930	4,881		1.8%
1940	4,275		−12.4%
1950	4,676		9.4%
1960	5,492		17.5%
1970	6,158		12.1%
1980	6,692		8.7%
1990	6,282		−6.1%
2000	6,926		10.3%
2010	7,256		4.8%
2020	6,773		−6.7%
2021 (est.)	6,594		−2.6%
U.S. Decennial Census 1790–1960 1900–1990 1990–2000 2010–2020

2020 census

Charles City County, Virginia – Racial and Ethnic Composition
Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.

Race / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)	Pop 2010	Pop 2020	% 2010	% 2020
White alone (NH)	2,939	2,997	40.50%	44.25%
Black or African American alone (NH)	3,511	2,836	48.39%	41.87%
Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)	495	441	6.82%	6.51%
Asian alone (NH)	24	34	0.33%	0.50%
Pacific Islander alone (NH)	5	6	0.07%	0.09%
Some Other Race alone (NH)	18	50	0.25%	0.74%
Mixed Race or Multi-Racial (NH)	176	308	2.43%	4.55%
Hispanic or Latino (any race)	88	101	1.21%	1.49%
Total	7,256	6,773	100.00%	100.00%

2010 Census

As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 7,256 people living in the county. 48.4% were Black or African American, 40.9% White, 7.1% Native American, 0.3% Asian, Pacific Islander, 0.6% of some other race and 2.6% of two or more races. 1.2% were Hispanic or Latino (of any race).

As of the census of 2000, there were 6,926 people, 2,670 households, and 1,975 families living in the county. The population density was 38 people per square mile (15 people/km²). There were 2,895 housing units at an average density of 16 units per square mile (6.2 units/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 54.85% Black or African American, 35.66% White, 7.84% Native American, 0.10% Asian, 0.17% from other races, and 1.37% from two or more races. 0.65% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 2,670 households, out of which 27.50% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.60% were married couples living together, 15.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.00% were non-families. 22.50% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.40% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.59 and the average family size was 3.02.

In the county, the population was spread out, with 22.10% under the age of 18, 7.50% from 18 to 24, 28.90% from 25 to 44, 28.80% from 45 to 64, and 12.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 96.30 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.80 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $42,745, and the median income for a family was $49,361. Males had a median income of $32,402 versus $26,000 for females. The per capita income for the county was $19,182. 10.60% of the population and 8.00% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 13.00% are under the age of 18 and 18.50% are 65 or older.

Economy

Tourism

Shirley Plantation, one of the James River plantations in Charles City County

Charles City County features some of the larger and older of the extant James River plantations along State Route 5. All are privately owned. Many of the houses and/or grounds are open daily to visitors with various admission fees applicable, and more may be open during Garden Week, usually in late April.

Some James River plantations open to the public, listed from west to east, include Shirley Plantation, Edgewood Plantation and Harrison's Mill, Berkeley Plantation, Westover Plantation, Belle Air Plantation, Piney Grove at Southall's Plantation, North Bend Plantation, and Sherwood Forest Plantation. Plantations not open to the public include Evelynton Plantation, Oak Hill, and Greenway Plantation.

Agriculture

Some Charles City County farms along the James River have been under continuous crop production for more than 400 years, but they remain highly productive. Local farmers have won national contests in bushel per acre grain production. A Charles City farmer has been the National Corn Grower in three years, producing 300+ bushels of corn per acre (18.8 t/ha) in the "no-till non-irrigated" category. Two Charles City farmers have won the National Wheat Growers First Place, producing 140+ bushels per acre (9.4 t/ha) of soft red winter wheat.

Charles City County farmers have also helped develop the leading technology for controlling runoff from grain cultivation. Fully 90% of crop land in Charles City County is in a never-till cropping system. When Hurricane Floyd in 1999 dropped approximately 19 inches (480 mm) of rain in 24 hours on some long-term never-till fields, visual observation showed virtually no erosion. A scientific study conducted in 2000 on one long-term never-till field demonstrated a 99.9% reduction in sediment runoff compared to conventional tillage, and a 95% reduction of runoff of nitrogen and phosphorus. This new technology could become a primary strategy to achieve a healthy Chesapeake Bay.

Government

Board of Supervisors

• District I: Ryan Patterson (I) (Vice Chairman)
• District II: Michael Hill (I) (Board Member)
• District III: Byron M. Adkins Sr. (Chairman)

Constitutional officers

• Circuit Court Clerk: Victoria Washington (I)
• Commissioner of the Revenue: Candice Jones (I)
• Commonwealth's Attorney: Tyler Klink (I)
• Sheriff: Jayson T. Crawley (I)
• Treasurer: Kourtney Brown (I)

Elected representatives

Charles City County is represented by Democrat Lashrecse Aird in the 13th district of the Senate of Virginia, and Democrat Delores McQuinn in the 81st district of the Virginia House of Delegates. On the Federal level, the County is represented by Democrat Jennifer McClellan in Virginia's 4th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives, and by Democratic senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner in the U.S. Senate.

Cities and towns

The county has no "City", or any centralized city or town. Charles City Court House, which has a Charles City postal address, is the focal point of government. The building that served as the courthouse was constructed in the 1730s. Used until 2007, it was one of only five courthouses in America that was in continuous use for judicial purposes since before the Revolutionary War. A new courthouse has since been built.

Transportation

Only Henrico County to the west is accessible without a river crossing. State Route 106 crosses the James River on the Benjamin Harrison Memorial Bridge, providing the only direct access to areas south of the river and to Hopewell, the closest city. Three bridges across the Chickahominy River link the county with neighboring James City County and Providence Forge in New Kent County.

Major highways

• SR 5
• SR 106
• SR 155
• SR 156

Education

Charles City County Public Schools employs a staff of approximately 100 persons to meet the needs of approximately 500 students in its two schools. All schools are technologically advanced with full wireless Internet access in both labs and classrooms. The school system strives to serve the whole child by offering students a broad spectrum of programs that includes core studies, electives gifted education, honors, dual enrollment, Advanced Placement, Army Junior ROTC, comprehensive vocational and technical programs, exceptional education programs, Title I reading, alternative education, pre-kindergarten program, and regional Governor's School program participation.

Politics

Charles City County has favored the Democratic candidate in each of the last sixteen presidential elections, during which the Democratic candidate has always received over fifty-nine percent of the vote from the county. It was the only county or independent city in Virginia won by George McGovern during the 1972 election, when in fact, Charles City proved McGovern’s fourth strongest county nationwide.

United States presidential election results for Charles City County, Virginia

Year	Republican		Democratic		Third party(ies)
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2020	1,761	39.65%	2,624	59.09%	56	1.26%
2016	1,476	35.94%	2,496	60.77%	135	3.29%
2012	1,396	32.99%	2,772	65.50%	64	1.51%
2008	1,288	31.01%	2,838	68.34%	27	0.65%
2004	1,254	36.46%	2,155	62.66%	30	0.87%
2000	1,023	33.37%	1,981	64.61%	62	2.02%
1996	729	26.16%	1,842	66.09%	216	7.75%
1992	729	24.19%	2,010	66.69%	275	9.12%
1988	826	30.59%	1,839	68.11%	35	1.30%
1984	776	30.03%	1,776	68.73%	32	1.24%
1980	506	23.74%	1,564	73.39%	61	2.86%
1976	439	22.50%	1,455	74.58%	57	2.92%
1972	535	30.84%	1,177	67.84%	23	1.33%
1968	320	16.33%	1,457	74.34%	183	9.34%
1964	323	23.96%	1,023	75.89%	2	0.15%
1960	337	34.96%	623	64.63%	4	0.41%
1956	661	72.08%	174	18.97%	82	8.94%
1952	342	40.24%	492	57.88%	16	1.88%
1948	167	33.60%	258	51.91%	72	14.49%
1944	139	29.89%	326	70.11%	0	0.00%
1940	92	27.88%	238	72.12%	0	0.00%
1936	79	25.32%	233	74.68%	0	0.00%
1932	85	25.37%	245	73.13%	5	1.49%
1928	207	66.35%	105	33.65%	0	0.00%
1924	82	35.34%	141	60.78%	9	3.88%
1920	82	40.59%	119	58.91%	1	0.50%
1916	57	28.93%	139	70.56%	1	0.51%
1912	37	20.44%	121	66.85%	23	12.71%

Communities

There are no incorporated towns in Charles City County, but the following unincorporated communities are located in the county:

Census-designated place

• Charles City

Other unincorporated communities

• Adkins Store
• Barnetts
• Berkeley
• Binns Hall
• Greenway
• Holdcroft
• Kimages
• Montpelier
• Mount Airy
• New Hope
• Old Union
• Roxbury
• Ruthville
• Sandy Point
• Sterling
• Tettington
• Wayside
• Westover
• Wilcox Neck

Notable people

• William Henry Harrison, 9th president of the United States
• John Tyler, 10th president of the United States
• John Tyler Sr., 15th governor of Virginia, father of John Tyler
• Stephen Bates, first Black sheriff in Vermont
• Alec Seward, blues musician
• Lott Cary, founding father of the country of Liberia
• James Bradby, first Black sheriff in Virginia since the Reconstruction Era
• James Hemings, first American to train as a chef in France

See also

• Charles City Shire
• City Point, Virginia
• Bermuda Hundred, Virginia
• Chickahominy river

External links

• Charles City County Public Schools
• Charles City County History & Visitor Information
• County Historical Markers Commemorating Local Communities
• James River Plantations
• Berkley Plantation
• Sherwood Forest Plantation
• The Raising of a President
• New Kent-Charles City Chronicle (Local Newspaper)