About Albemarle County, Virginia

Page Title Song is Ye Banks And Braes O' Bonnie Doon

 Albemarle County was formed in 1744 from Goochland County. At its inception it encompassed much of the James River valley above the fall line - not only present-day Albemarle but the counties of Fluvanna, Buckingham, Nelson, Amherst, much of Appomattox, and part of Campbell. In 1761 its lands were subdivided so as to form new counties. Albemarle County was named for William Anne Keppel, second Earl of Albemarle and governor of the Virginia colony from 1737 to 1754.
Albemarle Co. Map The county that emerged had an area of approximately 750 square miles, a figure decreased somewhat in recent decades by the growth and expansion of the city of Charlottesville, the county seat of Albemarle. About half of the county, the sixth largest in the state, lies in the Piedmont section, and half in what is sometimes called the Middle Virginia region.
The essential fact of Albemarle life during the early years of its formation is the creation of a prosperous, stable community wrested from virgin frontier. The county's early citizens were spared bloody confrontation with Indian tribes and never suffered the attacks from England's enemies that made day-to-day existence so hazardous in other colonies and in the western counties of Frederick and Augusta. But the men and women who took up the arduous task of establishing new homes, farms, and plantations in the foothills of the Blue Ridge, had to contend with the loneliness of isolation, separation from loved ones, and the rigors that wilderness living imposes upon all who dare to push forward into its depths.
Among those who patented lands in early Albemarle was a William "Burrus", probably an early spelling of the present-day surname "Bruce". The Bruce name has been associated with the county of Albemarle (and the neighboring county of Greene) almost from its beginning right down to the present day, and even earlier in the county of Orange.
Two BRUCES in this family line who were born in Albemarle County are: REUBEN DAVIS BRUCE, born April, 1868, and NATTIE BEE BRUCE, born April, 1904.

Big Albemarle County Map Albemarle Co 1780 Bruce's Mtn Map

The lower map shows a portion of Albemarle in 1866 showing the location of a Bruce's Hollow and a Bruce's Mountain. The map is by Hotchkiss and was made for Civil War planning. It is not known whether these areas are called by the same name today.

Source "Albemarle - Jefferson's County, 1727-1976" by John Hammond Moore
Copyright � 1997-2004
Stuarts Draft, VA. 24477-0519
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