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Living & Visiting in Louisa County
Welcome to Louisa County's website. We hope it provides answers to the questions that brought you here, and that it conveys a deserving picture of an ideal location for business or pleasure.

HISTORY

Louisa Formed in 1742 from Hanover County, Louisa County was named for Princess Louisa, daughter of King George II and Queen Caroline of England and wife of King Frederick V of Denmark. Its central Virginia location put it squarely in the path of Revolutionary and Civil War action and other historical events.
  • It was from Cuckoo Tavern in Louisa County that on June 3, 1781, Jack Jouett rode through the night to Charlottesville and Monticello warning Governor Thomas Jefferson and the Virginia Assemblymen of the approaching British army.

  • The Battle of Trevilian Station, the largest cavalry battle of the War Between the States, was fought in western Louisa County.

  • Always primarily agricultural, the county still has many lovely homes from the 18th and 19th centuries.

County history in a little more depth can be found on the Town of Louisa website. Please do come back. The Louisa County Historical Society also has sponsored a project to photograph all tombstones in the county.

LOCATION

Ideally located in the rolling Central Piedmont region near the heart of Virginia in the prosperous Richmond, Charlottesville, Fredericksburg Eastern U.S.triangle, Louisa County is within 500 miles of one-half of the nation's population. The 514 square miles are predominantly farm and forest lands, mixed with business, industrial, and residential properties.

The county seat, the Town of Louisa, is located just 50 miles from the state capital in Richmond, 95 miles from the nation's capital in Washington, D.C., 35 miles from Charlottesville, home of Thomas Jefferson's University, and 45 miles from Fredericksburg. The town of Mineral is the county's other incorporated town. The county population numbers about 26,900.

CLIMATE

Louisa County has a moderate climate with an average temperature of 56 degrees F. January highs average 47 degrees with lows of 26 degrees and July averages are 88 degrees high and 65 degrees low. The annual precipitation averages 41.6 inches with a 14-inch average snowfall.

LAND USE

The County is largely rural with a population density of about 43 people per square mile. About 10% of the county is developed as urban, residential, or industrial; 71% in natural and planted forest lands; 16% in crop, pasture, and open land; and 3% in water bodies.

EDUCATION

New Middle School The County's public school system provides education for nearly 5,400 students in three elementary schools, one middle school (right), and one high school. With a pupil-teacher ratio of 22:1 in the elementary schools and 17:1 in the secondary schools, per-pupil expenditure is $5,349. TAP achievement scores are: Reading, 47; Math, 49; Science, 61. (50 is the nationwide average.)

Two community colleges-- Piedmont Virginia Community College and J. Sergeant Reynolds Community College, are within easy reach; as are the University of Virginia and several institutions in Richmond.

COMMUNITY FACILITIES

Medical. A University of Virginia-affiliated medical clinic in Louisa provides outpatient medical care. County residents rely on hospitals in either Charlottesville or Richmond for excellent medical care. The University of Virginia Hospital in Charlottesville and the Medical College of Virginia Hospital in Richmond are State teaching and research hospitals offering the latest in technology, services, and facilities. Many additional hospitals in Richmond, Charlottesville, and Fredericksburg offer quality medical care.

A private medical clinic in Louisa provides outpatient medical care. Various other physicians and dentists practice in the county, and specialists from Charlottesville and Richmond visit the county on a regular basis. The Louisa Health Department provides a wide range of public health services for county residents. A nursing home serving long-term care needs of 90 patients is located in the town of Louisa.

Religious. Almost 60 churches, representing most Protestant denominations and the Catholic faith are located in Louisa County. Jewish synagogues are established in the neighboring cities.

New Library Library. A branch of the Charlottesville-based Jefferson-Madison Regional Library is centrally located on Rt 22 between Louisa and Mineral in the High School area. A wide range of services to citizens of all ages is offered by the library with its new 15,000 square foot state of the art building dedicated in December 1999.
News Release
For immediate release
Contact: (David Plunkett, Gordon Avenue Branch Manager, 296-5544)

THE GREAT GATSBY IS THE BIG READ AT THE LIBRARY

The Great Gatsby is coming back into our lives. F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic portrait of the American Jazz Age in the 1920s in all of its decadence and excess, is The BIG READ, an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts designed to restore reading to the center of American culture. The Jefferson-Madison Regional Library, in partnership with the Virginia Foundation Center for the Book, will present book discussions and other events about The Great Gatsby as part of its month-long celebration during April.

The BIG READ concept is simple -- to have as many people as possible in our community reading the same book at the same time. Then all branches of J-MRL will have discussion groups and opportunities for people to join in. Reader's Guide pamphlets will be distributed throughout the area.

The Great Gatsby, a tragic love story, a mystery, and a social commentary on American life, is widely recognized as one of the greatest works of American fiction, and its timeless themes of honesty, temptation, and reinvention are just as important today as they were 80 years ago.

The community reading programs (locations, dates, & times) can be found at jrml.org/bigread.htm. Caroline Preston, author of Gatsby's Girl, will speak at the Louisa Public Library on Tuesday, April 10 at 6 pm.

The National Endowment for the Arts launched the Big Read after a survey in 2004 showed a decline in the reading of literature. Less than half of American adults read literature, according to the report. The NEA presents the Big Read in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and in cooperation with Arts Midwest.
Wireless Internet Connection Now Available at the Louisa County Library
Bring your laptops to the Louisa County Library and have free wireless connection to the Internet. Although there are many public computers, with internet access, at the library, patrons often like to have their own files available. Now that is possible.

The Louisa County library hours:
   Monday - Tuesday: 11 - 7pm
   Wednesday - Friday: 10am - 5pm
   Saturday: 9am - 4pm
   Sunday: 1pm - 5pm
   (Closed Sundays Memorial Day to Labor Day)


Commerce. Retail and service needs of county residents are met through three commercial areas in the towns of Louisa and Mineral and numerous rural shops and stores. In addition, the many shopping malls and centers in the Fredericksburg- Richmond- Charlottesville metropolitan areas are easily accessed by Louisa residents.