Orange County, Virginia

**Orange County** is a county in the central piedmont region of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 36,254. Its county seat is Orange.

Orange County is home to "Montpelier", the  estate of James Madison, the 4th President of the United States and "Father of the Constitution." The county celebrated its 275th anniversary in 2009.

## History
The area was lived in for thousands of years by different cultures of Native Americans. At the time the Europeans came, the Ontponea, a sub-group of the Siouan-speaking Manahoac tribe, lived in this Piedmont area.

The first European settlement in what was to become Orange County was Germanna, formed when Governor Alexander Spotswood settled 12 immigrant families from Westphalia, Germany there in 1714. This was a total of 42 people. Orange County was created in August 1734 when the Virginia House of Burgesses adopted “An Act for Dividing Spotsylvania County.” Unlike other counties whose boundaries had ended at the Blue Ridge Mountains, Orange was bounded on the west “by the utmost limits of Virginia” which, at that time, stretched to the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes. The colony of Virginia claimed the land, but very little of it had yet been occupied by any English people. Orange County may have been at one time the largest county that ever existed. In 1738 most of the western area was split off into Augusta County. The large county was to encourage settlement further west to counter the French claim to the Ohio River Valley region.

While no battles of the American Revolutionary War were fought in Orange County, 100 men from the county were recruited to the Culpeper Minutemen. They fought in the Battle of Great Bridge, among other engagements.

Orange County’s population went up and down following the Civil War up through the 1930s. From that point forward, the population continued to grow steadily, representing an almost 300% increase through the 2010 Census.

## Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of . Of that,  is land and  (0.7%) is water. The terrain is made up of rolling hills, generally increasing in altitude and slope as they continue westward toward the Blue Ridge Mountains.  The highest point is Cowherd Mountain at 1,196&nbsp;ft (345 m), approximately 2.5 miles (4&nbsp;km) northwest of Gordonsville.

Orange County lies within the watersheds of both the Rappahannock River and the York River Both of these drain into the Chesapeake Bay.

### Adjacent counties
*Madison County - northwest
*Culpeper County - north
*Spotsylvania County - east
*Louisa County - south
*Albemarle County - southwest
*Greene County - west

### Waterbodies
* The Rapidan River defines the northern boundary of the county
* Lake Orange  - a 124-acre public lake southeast of the Town of Orange
* The 500-acre Main Lake in Lake of the Woods

### Nationally protected areas
* The Wilderness Battlefield in the eastern portion of the county lies within the Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park

## Transportation
### Major highways
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### Airports
* Orange County Airport (OMH)
* Gordonsville Airport  (GVE)

### Public transportation
* The Town of Orange Transit (TOOT) provides bus service around and between the towns of Orange and Gordonsville

## Demographics
In the 2020 census, there were 36,254 people, 14,190 households, and 9,986 families living in the county. The population density was 106.5 people per square mile (41.1/km²). There were 15,671 housing units. The breakdown by race was 76.9% White, 12.0% Black, 0.9% Asian, 0.5% Native American, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 2.3% from one other race, and 7.3% from two or more races. Hispanics and Latinos made up 6.0% of the people.

The median (middle) age was 44.6 years. The age breakdown was 21.1% under age 18, 56.9% from 18 to 65, and 22.0% over 65. The gender breakdown was 48.2% male and 51.8% female.

Of the households, 28.4% had children under age 18, 52.7% had a married couple, 6.9% had an unmarried couple, 25.3% had a woman with no partner, 15.1% had a man with no partner, and 24.7% had one person living alone. The average household size was 2.54 people.

As of 2022, the median (middle) yearly income for a household was about $87,309, and the median income for a family was about $100,907. The per capita income was about $41,650. About 10.0% of families and 13.0% of the people lived below the poverty line. This includes 21.1% of children under 18 years old and 7.7% of people over 65 years old. The median home value was about $316,000.

## References