434 Area Code 🌍☎️

Charlottesville, Virginia is an independent city and county seat of Albemarle County with a population of 46,553 as of the 2020 census, though the broader metropolitan area encompassing Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene, and Nelson counties reaches approximately 160,000 residents. Named after Queen Charlotte in 1762 and situated on the historic Three Notch'd Road trade route, the city was home to U.S. Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe, while James Madison's hometown of Orange lies 26 miles northeast. The University of Virginia, founded by Jefferson, and his plantation Monticello - located 3 miles southeast - are both UNESCO World Heritage Sites that attract thousands of annual tourists. Charlottesville was established as Albemarle County's first settlement in 1762 by trustee Thomas Walker and served as a temporary refuge for the Virginia Legislature during the Revolutionary War when Jack Jouett warned of Colonel Banastre Tarleton's planned 1781 raid. The city largely escaped the Civil War's devastation except for the skirmish at Rio Hill involving George Armstrong Custer, though the Charlottesville Factory (founded circa 1820-1830) was accidentally burned during General Philip Sheridan's 1865 Shenandoah Valley campaign before being rebuilt as the Woolen Mills until 1962. Lynchburg is an independent city in Virginia located in the Blue Ridge Mountains foothills along the James River, with a 2020 population of 79,009 making it the 11th-most populous city in the state and anchoring a five-county metropolitan area of 261,593 residents. Founded in 1757 by Quaker ferry operator John Lynch, the city earned its nicknames "City of Seven Hills" and "Hill City" from its surrounding topography and grew from a tobacco trading post into a major commercial and industrial center. During the Civil War, Lynchburg's strategic location allowed it to remain the only major Virginia city unconquered by Union forces before the war's end. Today, Lynchburg serves as a regional education hub hosting Liberty University, the University of Lynchburg, Randolph College, Virginia University of Lynchburg, and Central Virginia Community College. The city's development was shaped by James River commerce, with the General Assembly officially recognizing the settlement in 1786 and incorporating it as a town in 1805 before city status followed in 1852. Danville is an independent city in Southside Virginia located on the fall line of the Dan River, with a population of 42,590 according to the 2020 census. Originally settled in 1792 as "Wynne's Falls" before being renamed Danville in 1793, the city became known as "The World's Best Tobacco Market" after a tobacco warehouse was established in 1793, and by the mid-19th century industrialist William T. Sutherlin pioneered water-powered tobacco presses in the region. The strategic Richmond and Danville Railroad, completed in 1856, made Danville a major Confederate hub during the Civil War, and in April 1865 the city briefly served as the third and final capital of the Confederacy before its surrender. Danville has maintained a Black majority population since Reconstruction, though this period saw significant racial conflict including the Danville Massacre of 1883 and civil rights-era violence during desegregation efforts. The city remains home to an Amtrak station housed in the grand Southern Railway passenger station built in 1899 and hosts the Danville Otterbots of the Appalachian League.