Bland County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

located in the southwestern portion of the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

. The

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

is the

unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

of Bland. At the 2020 census, the population was 6,270. Bland County was created in 1861 from parts of

Wythe A wythe is a continuous vertical section of masonry one unit in thickness. A wythe may be independent of, or interlocked with, the adjoining wythe(s). A single wythe of brick that is not structural in nature is referred to as a masonry veneer. ...

, Tazewell, and Giles counties in Virginia. The new county was named in honor of Richard Bland, a Virginia statesman who served in the

House of Burgesses The House of Burgesses () was the lower house of the Virginia General Assembly from 1619 to 1776. It existed during the colonial history of the United States in the Colony of Virginia in what was then British America. From 1642 to 1776, the Hou ...

and the

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislature, legislative bodies, with some executive function, for the Thirteen Colonies of British America, Great Britain in North America, and the newly declared United States before, during, and after ...

. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 6,270, making it the 4th least populated county in Virginia. Bland County is also one of the few counties in the United States that do not contain any incorporated municipalities.

History

The push to create Bland County resulted from popular dissatisfaction with the distances required to travel to the various

s in the area. The distances and the difficult mountain trails created a significant hardship for those needing to conduct legal affairs. In addition, the growing population resented paying taxes for benefits outside of the local area. This pressure eventually persuaded the

Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, and the first elected legislative assembly in the New World. It was established on July 30, ...

to take action to form a new county in the southwestern portion of the state. Bland County was officially formed on March 30, 1861, from parts of

, Tazewell, and Giles counties. Additional land from Giles County was added later. The county was named after Richard Bland, a Virginia statesman and political figure who helped lead the struggle for freedom and independence from England.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.3%) is water. Bland County lies within the

Appalachian Regional Commission The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) is a United States federal–state partnership that works with the people of Appalachia to create opportunities for self-sustaining economic development and improved quality of life. Congress established A ...

's definition of the Appalachian region. The county is mountainous with small river valleys running through the county. The county lies entirely within the Ridge and Valley

physiographic province physiographic province is a geographic region with a characteristic geomorphology, and often specific subsurface rock type or structural elements. The continents are subdivided into various physiographic provinces, each having a specific characte ...

. The North Fork of the

Holston River The Holston River is a river that flows from Kingsport, Tennessee, to Knoxville, Tennessee. Along with its three major forks (North Fork, Middle Fork and South Fork), it comprises a major river system that drains much of northeastern Tennessee ...

has its head waters in Bland County.

Adjacent counties

Mercer County, West Virginia Mercer County is a county in Southern West Virginia on the southeastern border of the U.S. state of West Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 59,664. Its county seat is Princeton. The county was originally established in the St ...

– north * Giles County – northeast * Pulaski County – southeast * Wythe County – south * Smyth County – southwest * Tazewell County – west

National
protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewood ...

* Jefferson National Forest (part)

Major highways

* (future) * * * * *

Demographics

2020 census

2000 Census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 6,871 people, 2,568 households, and 1,908 families residing in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 3,161 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 94.82%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 4.19%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.09% Native American, 0.12% Asian, 0.01%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.09% from other races, and 0.68% from two or more races. 0.47% of the population were

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race. 37.4% were of American, 11.8% German, 11.5% English and 10.9% Irish ancestry according to Census 2000. There were 2,568 households, out of which 28.30% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.40% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 8.70% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.70% were non-families. 23.30% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 2.85. The population distribution of Bland County is: 19.40% under the age of 18, 7.60% from 18 to 24, 30.60% from 25 to 44, 27.90% from 45 to 64, and 14.50% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 119.90 males. For every 100 females aged 18 and over, there were 121.90 males. The median income for a household in the county was $30,397, and the median income for a family was $35,765. Males had a median income of $30,801 versus $23,380 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the county was $17,744. 12.40% of the population and 9.10% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 14.20% are under the age of 18 and 22.60% are 65 or older.

Government

Board of Supervisors

2022-2024 * District 1: K. Adam Kidd, Chair (R) * District 2: Stephen Kelley, Vice Chair (R) * District 3: Randy Johnson, Chair (I) * District 4: Keith Costello (R)

Constitutional officers

* Clerk of the Circuit Court: Lisa Hall (R) * Commissioner of the Revenue: Cindy U. Wright (I) * Commonwealth's Attorney: Patrick D. White (R) * Sheriff: Jason Ramsey (R) * Treasurer: John F. Goins (I) Bland County is represented by Republican Travis Hackworth in the Virginia Senate, Republican James W. "Will" Morefield in the Virginia House of Delegates, and Republican H. Morgan Griffith in the U.S. House of Representatives. The county is a historically Republican county. The only Democrats who have carried it since 1910 have been

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...

in 1912 when the Republican Party was split between

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) served as the 27th president of the United States from 1909 to 1913 and the tenth chief justice of the United States from 1921 to 1930. He is the only person to have held both offices. ...

and

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

in each of his four elections, and

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...

in 1964, all national Democratic Party landslides.

Communities

Census-designated places

* Bastian * Bland * Mechanicsburg * Rocky Gap

Additional community

* Ceres

References

External links

* http://www.blandcountyva.gov {{authority control Virginia counties 1861 establishments in Virginia Populated places established in 1861