Formed January 1, 1807 (78th county)
Nelson County (15,020), Lovingston* (520), Nellysford* (1,076)
The Modern red and white brick facility was built in 2008 to replace the 1809 courthouse. It is located on Courthouse Square at Court Street. United States Highway 29 Business passes two blocks to the west of the location. Randy Vaughn is the building designer. Veteran memorials are on the grounds. Nelson County was created on January 1, 1807 from Amherst County as the 78th county. Cablesville was the first county seat until 1808 when Lovingston assumed the county seat. The county is named for Governor Thomas Nelson, Jr. The county seat was named for settler James Loving.
Nelson County government consists of a sheriff and 5 Supervisors. Five Circuit Court Judges and Eight District Court Judges serve Nelson, Amherst, Bedford, and Campbell counties and Lynchburg City and Fifty-nine Magistrate Court Judges serve Nelson, Alleghany, Amherst, Augusta, Bath, Bedford, Botetourt, Campbell, Craig, Franklin, Henry, Highland, Patrick, Pittsylvania, Roanoke, and Rockbridge counties and Buena Vista, Covington, Danville, Lexington, Lynchburg, Martinsville, Roanoke, Salem, Staunton, and Waynesboro cities. The county is located in western Virginia. Roanoke, Virginia is southwest and Richmond, Virginia is southeast of the county. The county center is 1.3 miles North of Lovingston. The county is surrounded clockwise by Albemarle, Buckingham, Appomattox, Amherst, Rockbridge, and Augusta counties.
The area of the county is 474 square miles. It is 36 out of 133 in the state. It ranks 97 out of 133 in population in the state. It has a density of 31.69 persons per square mile making it 118 out of 133 in the state. Nelson County has 0.0% of its population in its incorporated areas since there are no incorporated cities. Interstate Highway 64 clips the northern tip of the county from Albemarle County, northeast, to Augusta County, northwest. United States Highway 29 enters from the north, Albemarle County, and exits to the south, Amherst County. United States Highway 250 parallels Interstate Highway 64 from Albemarle County to Waynesboro City. United States Highway 340 comes from Waynesboro City and goes into Augusta County. The county resembles a tower leaning northwest. Lovingston is located in the southeast quarter of the county. Nellysford is in the northern third of the county. Lovingston is the county seat and Nellysford is the largest populated area. Lovingston is 3.5% of the county population while Nellysford is 7.2% of the county population. This county is in the Charlottesville Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Lovingston (unincorporated)
