Wise County / Dickenson County

Wise County was formed in 1856 from Lee, Scott, and Russell Counties and was named for Henry Alexander Wise, governor of Virginia from 1856 to 1860. Its county seat is the town of Wise. After the Civil War, the town of Wise grew and the county's industry expanded because of the growth of the railroads and increased coal mining in the region. Novelist John Fox Jr. lived in Big Stone Gap for part of his life and wrote The Trail of the Lonesome Pine and The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come. Dickenson County, a mountainous county, was formed in 1880 from Russell, Wise, and Buchanan Counties and was named for William J. Dickenson, delegate to the Virginia General Assembly from Russell County. Its first permanent European settlements were established during the early 19th century. Breaks Interstate Park, near Breaks, includes a portion of Kentucky; created by joint action of both state legislatures in 1954, it contains a deep gorge shaped over centuries by the Russell Fork River. Clintwood is the county seat.

Virginia · United States