The City of Charlottesville

When people first meet you here, you are often asked « Do you live in the City or the County? » I used to smile. “Paris is a city.” I thought. “New York is a city.” How could a tree-filled community of 44,000 inhabitants and few buildings higher than three storeys be a city? And why was Albemarle County, which completely surrounds Charlottesville, always called simply The County? Inter-culturalists know that when something seems strange to you but is obviously important to others, it is something significant. I listened and learned.
In colonial times, settled land was divided into counties. Each county had a town with a courthouse an easy day’s ride from its farms and estates. (Note that in France, towns and villages grew up around chateaux and churches. In colonial America, towns grew up around courthouses. I leave you to draw the cultural conclusion.) As areas were settled, new counties were created. Thus, in 1744 Albemarle County came into existence with Scott’s Landing as its county seat.
By 1762, the population had settled west and south of Scott’s Landing. Getting there took too long. So, Charlottesville was founded with a new courthouse -- still in use today after several renovations and extensions



Scott’s Landing (now Scottsville) still exists, a village of 550 people -- how the mighty have fallen.
Communities in Virginia can choose to be chartered, independent entities. No matter what its size, if a community is chartered or “incorporated”, it is a city. Charlottesville was incorporated in 1888. It is still the county seat of Albemarle County but it is no longer IN Albemarle County. Got that? It took me years to figure it out.
History also explains why, for such a relatively small community, there is so much traffic. From its inception, Charlottesville was a service community. People came here from their homes in The County to shop, to have fun, to visit their doctor or their lawyers. Residents of The City were mostly merchants, inn-keepers and medical and legal advisors.

Watchmaker's shop and residence from early 1800's

After Mr Jefferson’s University opened in 1825, there were also professors. Today, Albemarle County and other, further away counties, have their own communities, subdivisions and shopping malls as well as farms and estates. But the County people still come to Charlottesville to shop, to have fun and to visit their doctors and lawyers. And to work. If Thomas Jefferson came back to Charlottesville today, he would not be surprised to see his thriving University, and all the doctor’s offices, courthouses, shops, restaurants, theatres and hotels within The City. But he might be startled to know that a number of their owners and employees came in every day from The County, thus enjoying serene country life as well as the stimulation of The City.

Going home to The County