Prince George County, Virginia

Prince George County is a located in the  &mdash; officially, "" &mdash; of. As of the, the population was 33,047. Its is. It is in of the  region and is a portion of the.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 730 (282 ). 688 km² (266 mi²) of it is land and 42 km² (16 mi²) of it (5.76%) is water.

History
Prince George County was formed in in the  from a portion of. It was named in honor of Prince, husband of England's reigning monarch, Queen.

In, "Charles Cittie" [sic] was one of four "boroughs" or "incorporations" created by the. The first Charles City County courthouses were located along the at  and. The Virginia Company lost its charter in, and Virginia became a royal colony.

was formed in in the Virginia Colony by order of, King of England. It became Charles City County in, and is considered one the five shires in Virginia still extant in essentially the same political entity (county) as they were originally formed in 1634.

Charles Cittie, Charles City Shire, and Charles City County all extended to both sides of the, which was the major transportation throughfare if the Virginia Colony throughout the. The original central city of Charles City County was Charles City Point, which was in an area south of the James River at the confluence of the. The name was later shortened to.

In 1703, all of the original area of Charles City County south of the James River was severed to form Prince George County and eventually, several other counties. City Point later became an in Prince George County, but was annexed by the  of  in, and is no longer in the county.

Local government
In modern times, there are no centralized cities or towns in the county. Prince George Court House, which uses the postal address Prince George, Virginia, is the focal point of government. The County Administrator answers to the elected Board of Supervisors.

Towns, communities, region
There are currently no s within Prince George County. in the county include:

Prince George County adjoins the of, , and  and is considered part of the  of the  (or Greater Richmond) region. It also has borders with 5 other counties: Charles City (County), Chesterfield, Dinwiddie, Sussex, and Surry.
 * (a military base)
 * (a military base)
 * (a military base)

Transportation
s and  pass through the county, as does north-south  and east-west. runs along the northern shore of the James River near several of the located in the county.

Freight service for the county is provided by, which interchanges with  at Petersburg. The famous 52-mile long tangent rail line between Petersburg and of the former  was built by  in the 1850s, and now forms a vital link of the Norfolk Southern system. A transloading facility for shipments of new automobiles is located nearby. There are future plans underway for a large railroad-trucking transfer facility in Prince George County as well.

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 33,047 people, 10,159 households, and 8,096 families residing in the county. The was 48/km² (124/mi²). There were 10,726 housing units at an average density of 16/km² (40/mi²). The racial makeup of the county was 60.93%, 32.54% or , 0.42% , 1.73% , 0.15% , 2.19% from , and 2.03% from two or more races. 4.92% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 10,159 households out of which 41.90% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.50% were living together, 12.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.30% were non-families. 17.20% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.80% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.76 and the average family size was 3.11.

In the county, the population was spread out with 25.10% under the age of 18, 13.60% from 18 to 24, 33.30% from 25 to 44, 20.80% from 45 to 64, and 7.30% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 117.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 120.90 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $49,877, and the median income for a family was $53,750. Males had a median income of $37,363 versus $26,347 for females. The for the county was $20,196. About 6.50% of families and 8.00% of the population were below the, including 11.40% of those under age 18 and 8.30% of those age 65 or over.

Trivia

 * The small community of is said to have been named by railroad builder (and later Confederate General)  and his cultured wife,, originally of , each long considered among the 's more notable and colorful characters. William "Little Billy" Mahone, who became known as the hero of the  in Prince George County during the , later became a mayor of Petersburg, a , and helped found  nearby.


 * Due to the wording of the Hopewell city charter, the portion of the adjacent to the shoreline of that city is located in Prince George County. The modern twin  on  from Chesterfield County to Hopewell pass through a water-only portion of Prince George County, duly noted by signage.


 * Nearby the current bridges, this same water-only section of the county at the Appomattox River was the site of a fatal accident at an open  on,  which killed 13 persons.