Formed August 1, 1734 (28th county)
Orange County (36,184), Orange (4,869)
A Modern concrete and gray brick courthouse was built in 2005. It is located on Madison Road at Main Street. United States Highway 15 is Madison Road in the town. The courthouse was designed by Hayes, Seay, Mattern and Mattern. The earlier courthouse was constructed in 1859. Veteran memorials are on the grounds of the old courthouse. Many of the Virginia counties have their county seat at a location named after the county followed by the words Court House. Some counties maintain this in their official name. The county was established on August 1, 1734 as the 28th county. A number of houses were used originally, then Orange Court House (1752), and finally Orange (1790) have all been the county seat. Orange County and its county seat are named for Prince William of Orange.
Orange County government consists of a sheriff and 5 Supervisors. Three Circuit Court Judges and Nine District Court Judges serve Orange, Albemarle, Culpeper, Fluvanna, Goochland, Greene, Louisa, and Madison counties and Charlottesville City and Forty-two Magistrate Court Judges serve Orange, Albemarle, Clarke, Culpeper, Fauquier, Fluvanna, Frederick, Goochland, Greene, Madison, Loudoun, Louisa, Page, Rappahannock, Rockingham, Shenandoah, and Warren counties and Charlottesville, Harrisonburg, and Winchester cities. Orange County is in northern Virginia. Richmond, Virginia is southeast and Alexandria, Virginia is northeast of the county. The county center is 7.1 miles East of Orange nearer Nasons. The county is surrounded clockwise by Culpeper, Spotsylvania, Louisa, Albemarle, Greene, and Madison counties.
The area of the county is 342 square miles. It is 56 out of 133 in the state. It ranks 48 out of 133 in population in the state. It has a density of 105.8 persons per square mile making it 66 out of 133 in the state. Orange County has 17.3% of its population in its incorporated areas. United States Highway 15 comes into the county from Madison County, northwest, and goes into Louisa County, south. United States Highway 33 goes from Greene County, northwest, to Louisa County, south. United States Highway 522 enters from Culpeper County, northeast, and exits to Spotsylvania County, southeast. James Madison, the 4th President, is buried in this county. Zachary Taylor, the 12th President, was born in this county. The county is shaped like a lazy letter J. The City of Orange is located near the western border of the county. Orange is the county seat and the largest city. It is 13.5% of the county population.
Orange
Gordonsville
