Abingdon, Virginia

Abingdon is a town in Washington County, Virginia, 133 miles (214 km) southwest of Roanoke. In 1910, the town had a population of 1,757. The population was 7,780 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Washington County³. The town is included in the Tri-Cities Metro area of Johnson City-Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA.⁴

1 Places to go in Abingdon
2 History
3 Geography
4 Demographics
5 Notable residents
6 References
7 External links

Places to go in Abingdon

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The town of Abingdon is located in Washington County in the Blue Ridge Highlands region of Virginia. It was named after the ancestral home of Martha Washington.

Cultural events are held at the William King Regional Arts Center and the Barter Theatre, which is considered the "State Theatre of Virginia" and one of the longest-running professional regional theatres in the nation.

William King Regional Arts Center is the only facility of its kind serving far Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee. Located in an historic 1913 building — a renovated former school — the Arts Center houses galleries of regional and international art, including contemporary works and historical decorative arts.

Abingdon is a Virginia Historic Landmark and its 20-square block Historic District includes the Fields-Penn 1860 House Museum, which shows how a typical family lived in the pre-Civil War period; Cave House Craft Shop in a Victorian landmark; Arts Depot, an 1870 restored railroad station; and the Martha Washington Inn, a Four-Star, Historic Hotel of America, which was built in 1832.

Fields-Penn 1860 House Museum offers guided tours that interpret 19th-century life in Southwest Virginia. The home's original owners enjoyed status in the emerging middle class: the Fields in the years on the eve of the Civil War, and the Penns in the gilded 1890s.

As a brick mason and building contractor, James Fields built his home in 1860, for wife, Susan, and their eight children, in the latest American style. The family of George and Estelle Penn moved into the house in the 1890s and made it their home for 75 years.

Abingdon is one of the towns along The Crooked Road: Virginia's Heritage Music Trail and is the place for the annual Virginia Highlands Festival, one of the most popular events in Virginia.

History

Barter Theatre

The land on which the town of Abingdon is situated was originally surveyed between the years 1748 and 1750 by Dr. Thomas Walker and was part of the Great Road that Colonel William Byrd III ordered cut through the wilderness on to Kingsport, Tennessee.⁵ In 1760, famed frontiersman, Daniel Boone, named the area Wolf Hills, after his dogs were attacked by a pack of wolves during a hunting expedition. The original location of the attack is located on 'Courthouse Hill' and is also the location of The Cavehouse Craft Shop. ⁵ During Lord Dunmore's War, Black's Fort was established in 1774 by Joseph Black to protect local settlers in the region from Indian attacks.⁵

In 1776 the community of Black's Fort was made the county seat of the newly formed Washington county. In 1778, Black's Fort was incorporated as the town of Abingdon, said to be named for the ancestral home of Martha Washington. Martha Washington College, a school for women, operated in Abingdon from 1860 to 1932 in a former private residence; since 1935 the building has been occupied by a hotel, the Martha Washington Inn. The Barter Theatre, the state theatre of Virginia, was opened in Abingdon in 1933. Virginia Governors Wyndham Robertson, David Campbell, and John B. Floyd lived here. Abingdon is also the final stop along the Virginia Creeper Trail, which allows pedestrian, cyclist and equestrian traffic. The Washington County Historical Society is located in Abingdon and serves as a regional genealogy center, in addition as a repository for Washington County history.

Geography

Abingdon is located at 36°42′35″N 81°58′32″W / 36.70972, -81.97556 (36.709773, -81.975694)⁶.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 8.3 square miles (21.6 km²), all of it land.

The town is located in the Great Appalachian Valley, between the Middle Fork and the North Fork of the Holston River.

Demographics

Office of the Abingdon Virginian newspaper

As of the census¹ of 2000, there were 7,780 people, 3,522 households, and 2,092 families residing in the town. The population density was 932.6 people per square mile (360.2/km²). There were 3,788 housing units at an average density of 454.1/sq mi (175.4/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 94.99% White, 3.41% African American, 0.13% Native American, 0.64% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.19% from other races, and 0.63% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.80% of the population.

There were 3,522 households out of which 23.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.6% were married couples living together, 10.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.6% were non-families. 36.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.08 and the average family size was 2.72.

In the town the population was spread out with 18.3% under the age of 18, 8.2% from 18 to 24, 27.4% from 25 to 44, 25.5% from 45 to 64, and 20.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 81.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 77.6 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $30,976, and the median income for a family was $46,106. Males had a median income of $32,005 versus $22,844 for females. The per capita income for the town was $22,486. About 7.3% of families and 10.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.4% of those under age 18 and 9.7% of those age 65 or over.

Notable residents

Robert Armstrong, (1792-1854), born in Abingdon, United States Army officer and candidate to be Governor of Tennessee⁷
Martin Beaty (1784–1856), born in Abingdon, United States Congressman from Kentucky ⁷
Francis Preston Blair, (1791–1876), born in Abingdon, journalist and politician ⁷
Rick Boucher, (b. 1946), Abingdon native, U.S. Congressman for the 9th congressional District (map), currently serving his 13th term.
James King Gibson, (1812–1879), born in Abingdon, United States Congressman from Virginia ⁷
John W. Johnston, (1818–1889), nephew of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, served as United States Senator after Virginia readmitted to the Union in 1869.
Joseph E. Johnston, (1807–1891), lived in Abingdon as a boy, Confederate General in the American Civil War.
William McMillan, (1764–1804), born in Abingdon, lawyer. district attorney, and United States Congressman from Ohio territory. ⁷
Granville Henderson Oury, (1825–1885), born in Abingdon, captain in the Confederate Army and later United States Congressman from Arizona. ⁷
John S. Preston, (1809-1881), born in Abingdon, Confederate general in the American Civil War and South Carolina politician
H. Emory Widener, Jr., (1923-2007), born and died in Abingdon, judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and one of the longest serving federal judges in United States history.
Gail Harris, (b. 1931), born in Abingdon, major league baseball player for New York Giants and Detroit Tigers⁸⁹

References

^ ^a ^b "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
^ "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey (2007-10-25). Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
^ "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
^ United States Census Metropolitan Area List with Washington Co., included with Johnson City-Bristol-Kingsport (tri-city area)
^ ^a ^b ^c Official City of Abingdon website
^ "US Gazetteer files: 2000 and 1990". United States Census Bureau (2005-05-03). Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f (1967) Who Was Who in America, Historical Volume, 1607-1896. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who.
^ Hayes, Tim (2008-06-28). "LOCAL LEGENDS IN THE PROS: Harris’ Big League Career Was A Hit", Bristol Herald Courier. Retrieved on 28 June 2008.
^ Gail Harris Baseball Stats by Baseball Almanac

External links

Abingdon, Virginia is at coordinates 36°42′35″N 81°58′32″W / 36.709773, -81.975694 (Abingdon, Virginia)Coordinates: 36°42′35″N 81°58′32″W / 36.709773, -81.975694 (Abingdon, Virginia)

v • d • e Municipalities and communities of Washington County, Virginia

County seat: Abingdon

Towns	Abingdon \| Damascus \| Glade Spring \| Meadowview \| Saltville‡

Unincorporated communities	Clinchburg \| Emory-Meadowview \| Friendship \| Hayter's Gap \| Konnarock \| Lodi \| Mendota

Footnotes	‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties