Powhatan County, Virginia

Powhatan County is a located in the  &mdash; officially, "" &mdash; of. The county is named for the most prominent local leader of the at the time the British  was established at  in 1607. was also the father of.

Powhatan County, which combines rural and suburban settings in the early 21st century, is located southwest of along  in the  region and is a portion of the Richmond  (MSA). As of the, the population was 22,377. Its is.

History
Before the arrival of Europeans in the 17th century, the area was populated by. Among these were the tribe, of a  heritage. They were often in conflict with the members of the of Virginia s, generally located to the east in the Tidewater area.

Around the turn of the 18th century, a group of French refugees fleeing religious persecution arrived. As the s were dependent upon shipping, the area above the  at the  of the  had not yet been settled. They settled in the area west of what became Richmond, choosing Manakintown, a former Monacan village located near present-day and.

In May 1777, the created Powhatan County out of land from the eastern portion of   between the  and James Rivers. The County was named in honor of, father of. It is an irony that the county was named after the former enemies of the area's Native Americans, although by then, it was at a time when both the Monacans and the Powhatan were no longer major forces, each decimated by European settlers.

The original courthouse was constructed in 1778 and the immediate area was named "Scottville" after General, a revolutionary war hero, who was later a governor of the after it was formed in 1792 as a separate state from land ceded by Virginia. The courthouse area later became known as. 

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 680 (262 ). 677 km² (261 mi²) of it is land and 3 km² (1 mi²) of it (0.43%) is water.

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 22,377 people, 7,258 households, and 5,900 families residing in the county. The was 33/km² (86/mi²). There were 7,509 housing units at an average density of 11/km² (29/mi²). The racial makeup of the county was 81.50%, 16.91% or , 0.21% , 0.21% , 0.33% from , and 0.84% from two or more races. 0.82% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 7,258 households out of which 37.50% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 69.70% were living together, 8.10% had a female householder with no husband present, and 18.70% were non-families. 14.60% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.80% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.74 and the average family size was 3.03.

In the county, the population was spread out with 24.00% under the age of 18, 7.30% from 18 to 24, 34.70% from 25 to 44, 25.60% from 45 to 64, and 8.40% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 122.30 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 126.70 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $53,992, and the median income for a family was $58,142. Males had a median income of $37,948 versus $28,204 for females. The for the county was $24,104. 5.70% of the population and 4.80% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 7.90% are under the age of 18 and 8.60% are 65 or older.

Government
As of 2007 the current supervisors of Powhatan county are Russell E. Holland, T.J. Bise, Robert R. Cosby, Scott Daniel, and Kenneth Hatcher. In 2007 T.J. Bise was nominated as Chairman and Russ Holland as the Vice Chairman.