Pittsville is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

Pittsylvania County Pittsylvania County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 60,501. Chatham is the county seat. Pittsylvania County is included in the Danville, VA Micropolitan Statistical A ...

, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

Economy

Pittsville has a small general store named Woody's Country Store and a Post Office The primary industries are tied to agriculture, forest resources and real estate. There are views of Smith Mountain,

Peaks of Otter The Peaks of Otter are three mountain peaks in the Blue Ridge Mountains, overlooking the town of Bedford, Virginia, which lies nine miles (14 km) to the southeast along State Route 43. These peaks are Sharp Top, Flat Top, and Harkening Hill ...

and The

Blue Ridge Mountains The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. The mountain range is located in the Eastern United States, and extends 550 miles southwest from southern Pennsylvania through Maryland, West Virgin ...

in the area. The real estate market has seen recent interest because of increased development on nearby

Leesville Lake Leesville Lake is a reservoir in Virginia used for hydroelectric power generation in conjunction with Smith Mountain Lake as a pump storage project. It is located southeast of Roanoke, and southwest of Lynchburg. Smaller and lower than Smith ...

and

Smith Mountain Lake Smith Mountain Lake is a large reservoir in the Roanoke Region of Virginia, United States, located southeast of the City of Roanoke and southwest of Lynchburg. The lake was created in 1963 by the Smith Mountain Dam impounding the Roanoke River. ...

History

Pittsville played an important role in early

history of Virginia The written History of Virginia begins with documentation by the first Spanish explorers to reach the area in the 1500s, when it was occupied chiefly by Algonquian, Iroquoian, and Siouan peoples. In 1607, English colonization began in Virginia ...

. Early mineral prospectors found iron ore in the form of Brown Hematite and magnetic ore in the 1860s and in 1878 the Franklin and Pittsylvania Railroad was chartered as a means of transporting the ore to market. The population at this time was approximately 80 persons. At the same time a 7-mile section of track was laid by the Washington City, Virginia Midland & Great Southern Railroad to connect Pittsville with Franklin Junction (Gretna). This branch was called the Pittsylvania Railroad. It connected to the Franklin and Pittsylvania Railroad which ran west from Pittsville to Rocky Mount. Around 1888, iron ore supplies were nearly exhausted and the railway was subsisting mainly for transport of lumber. The Railroad later fell into bankruptcy and was abandoned by 1932. Pittsville today is a small community. As of 2008 the ZIP code of its post office included 220 households, and several new developments on Leesville Lake such as Mountain View Shores, Leesville Landing, Parker's Landing, and Eagle Point Shores and part of the nearby community of Brights.

References

* *The History of Pittsylvania County, Virginia by Maud Carter Clement *Hand-book of Virginia, Volumes 81-886 by Virginia Dept. of Agriculture, Randolph Harrison Unincorporated communities in Virginia Unincorporated communities in Pittsylvania County, Virginia {{PittsylvaniaCountyVA-geo-stub