Grayson County, Virginia, has an area of 425 square miles. It was formed in 1792 from Wythe and was named for William Grayson, one of the first two United States Senators from Virginia. The headwaters of the New River are in this county. North Carolina was one of the original thirteen states. The first settlement was made on Roanoke Island in 1585, but it was not permanent. Settlers from Virginia occupied the Albemarle region before 1663, the year the colony of Carolina was founded.