Chesterfield Facts

Chesterfield County was founded on May 25, 1749, by the House of Burgesses. It was carved from Henrico County to eliminate lengthy travel by residents from the southern area to the Courthouse for business and court proceedings.

The historic James River borders the county on the northeast and the Appomattox River forms the county's southern boundary.

Chesterfield County received its name from the Fourth Earl of Chesterfield, England's famed Lord Chesterfield Lord Chesterfield's name was Philip Dormer Stanhope.

Chesterfield was first settled in 1611 at the Citie of Henricus, when residents of Jamestown moved upstream to a "convenient, strong, healthie and sweete seate" for a new town after conditions at Jamestown were too harsh.

The county's rich history includes many historic "firsts," such as:

• 1611 -- Citie of Henricus was established as the second permanent English
  settlement in the new work
• 1612 -- Tobacco was first cultivated in America at Bermuda Hundred
• 1614 - -Bermuda Hundred was the first incorporated town in America
• 1619 -- Falling Creek was the first iron furnace in the New World
• 1622 -- Mount Malady, near Dutch gap, was the site of the first American hospital
• 1709 -- Midlothian produced the first commercially mined coal in America
• 1807 -- Midlothian Turnpike was the first paved road in Virginia
• 1831 -- The Midlothian to Manchester Railroad was the first in Virginia

Drewry's Bluff, which overlooks the James River, was a Confederate stronghold during the Civil War. Cannon and sharpshooter fire from the site prevented a Union raid on Richmond in 1862 that may have shortened the war.

Click here for a history of the Sheriff's Department and a link to a list of Sheriffs.

While the county is proud of its historic roots, today Chesterfield is proud to be a "First Choice Community" that offers its residents a great place to live, work, play and raise a family.

Discover Chesterfield at the county's official website.