FLOYD COUNTY IN VIEW
                          Buffalo Mountain in the distance     (photo by R.Jon Ratner)

History and Facts About
Floyd County Virginia

(The scenic view from the eastern most edge of Floyd County..looking down from the high plateau-photo by R.J.Ratner)

 
The county's terrain consists of rolling hills, open pastures, dense mixed forests and occassional steep, breathtaking drop-offs along mountainous switchback roads.The main roads and secondary roads in Floyd are paved hardtop but most all connecting roads throughout the rural county are dirt/gravel. The established mean elevation is 2,500 feet with many sites rising above that. The Blue Ridge Parkway forms the eastern border of the county for about thirty-one miles of magnificent western Virginia scenery..

Originally an agrarian society held reign here: cattle, dairies, mixed crops and timber were the mainstays of livelihood.
In more recent times Floyd County has become more of a bedroom community with workers needing to commute long distances.There is little industry and not enough jobs available within Floyd's borders to support and sustain the current and growing population and increasing economic needs of Floyd's residents.
Recent tax appraisals doubled most land values, making it much less like the easy going community it once was when people could still attempt reasonably cost agrarian based homesteading and a perpetuation of Floyd's historic values; those values that were honed in a simplicity of living and lifestyle.

Early land surveys show an attempt by people of European backgrounds to settle this area as early as the 1740's. There had been numerous Native American tribes thriving in the area already.
Land records show a scattering of actual settlements of people of European ancestry by 1748 and 1750.
The county was not officially established until January 15,1831, when an act of the Virginia General Assembly created Floyd from neighboring Montgomery County.
The county was named after the Governor of Virginia(1830-1834), John Floyd.

Genealogy of Floyd County:

      Charles River Co                   Chickacoan Indian District
      name changed to                             |
    York Co (1642/43)                  Northumberland Co (1648)
        |  !__________________________________.___!
        |                                     |
    New Kent Co (1654)                    Lancaster Co (1651)
        |                                     |
  King and Queen Co (1691)           Rappahanock Co (1656-1692) defunct
       |  |____________                       |
       |               |                      |
       |     King William Co (1702)      Essex Co (1692)
       !__________.____!______________________!
                  |
            Spotsylvania Co (1721)
                  |
            Orange Co (1734)
                  |
              Augusta Co (1745)
                       |
                   Botetourt Co (1770)
                              |
                          Fincastle Co (1772-1777) defunct
                              |
                         Montgomery Co (1777)
                              |
                          Floyd Co (1831)

Floyd's current County seat, originally named Jacksonville for the seventh president, Andrew Jackson (1829-1837), is the Town of Floyd. It was created in 1834 after Manassah Tice (5 acres) and Abraham Phlegar (1 acre) gave land designated for the county seat. The town was incorporated in 1858 and its name was changed from Jacksonville to Floyd in 1896. Floyd has some 238,578 acres and rises some 2,432 feet above sea level. Buffalo Mountain, at 3,971 feet, is the highest point in the county.

Shaped like an elongated arrowhead, the county lies between the Blue Ridge Parkway and Interstate 81. (Only two-lane highways are within Floyd's borders).

(Looking across county to Buffalo Mt.-photo by R.J.Ratner) Floyd is a county of time and weather worn mountains connected by acres of forests, grazing lands and crop fields. A drive along most roadways reveal many long panoramic vistas or stunning photogenic scenes of bucolic and rustic beauty.With its split rail fences, deep valleys,accessible ridges and small streams, Floyd County contains all that comprise the image of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
 There is one other unique quality inherent to this watershed location. No water flows into the county; all of the streams and rivers and springs have their sources here; their water or their headwaters originate within the county and flow out of the county's borders. Little River, the county's largest waterway is formed by three main branches, or forks: the East, West, and South (also known as Dodd's Creek) forks.

Nickel, cobalt, iron,copper,arsenic and soapstone were mined at one time in various parts of the county.
Floyd County is one of the United States' leading growers of Christmas trees.

---

According to the 1990 Census estimates, Floyd County had, at that time, a population of 12,005. The most recent census puts the county population closer to 13,400. Since the mid 1990's there has been an influx of new residents. Some coming here out of the,then, fear, of some Y2K calamity; others because of what had then been reasonably priced land and properties. The Y2K calamities and reasonably priced properties are now both known to be figments of the imagination.
The median age of the county's occupants is 40. The Town of Floyd population estimated for 1990 came in at 390. It is currently estimated at 600. The populations of both the town and the county have grown; and like nearly everywhere else, here too, the farms are disappearing.

(Looking towards Will's Ridge-photo by R.J.Ratner)
Floyd County has a land area of 383 square miles and is located in the Blue Ridge province of the southwestern part of Virginia. The county seat, The Town of Floyd, is one hour southwest of Roanoke on U.S. 221; forty-five minutes east of Blacksburg, the home of Virginia Tech University and thirty minutes from Radford, the home of Radford University. Floyd is one hour west of Martinsville; one hour north of Galax, the home of "The Old Time Fiddler's Convention", and 90 minutes north of Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  There are no lakes in Floyd, but Smith Mt. Lake, Claytor Lake and Philpott Lake(reservoir) and Mountain Lake(where the movie "Dirty Dancing" was filmed) are all about an hour's drive.

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