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Orange County Historical Society
This project is a table of contents for all projects relating to Orange County Virginia. See the Related Projects for details.
Orange County, Virginia was formed in 1734 from Spotsylvania County, Virginia.
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; a total of 42 people. Orange County, as a legal entity, 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. For this reason, some contend that Orange County was at one time the largest county that ever existed.[6] This situation lasted only four years; in 1738 most of the western tract was split off into Augusta County.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_County,_Virginia
Adjacent counties
Madison County – northwest
Culpeper County – north
Spotsylvania County – east
Louisa County – south
Albemarle County – southwest
Greene County – west
Location within the U.S. state of Virginia