Charlottesville

Sister cities

• Besançon
• Poggio a Caiano
• Winneba
• Huehuetenango
• Pleven

History

At the time of European settlement, part of the area that became Charlottesville was occupied by a Monacan village called Monasukapanough. They were pushed off their land by English settlers and were forced to disperse to North Carolina, Tennessee and possibly as far as Canada. An Act of the Assembly of Albemarle County established Charlottesville in 1762. Thomas Walker was named its first trustee. It was situated along a trade route called Three Notched Road (present day U.S. Route 250), which led from Richmond to the Great (Shenandoah) Valley. The town took its name from the British queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. During the American Revolutionary War, Congress imprisoned the Convention Army in Charlottesville at the Albemarle Barracks between 1779 and 1781. The Governor and legislators had to abandon the capitol temporarily and on June 4, 1781, Jack Jouett warned the Virginia Legislature meeting at Monticello of a planned raid by Colonel Banastre Tarleton, allowing a narrow escape. Unlike much of Virginia, Charlottesville was spared the brunt of the American Civil War. The only battle to take place in Charlottesville was the skirmish at Rio Hill, an encounter in which George Armstrong Custer briefly engaged local Confederate Home Guards before retreating. A year later, the Charlottesville Factory, founded , was accidentally burnt during General Philip Sheridan's 1865 raid through the Shenandoah Valley. However, the mayor had surrendered the city to Generals Custer and Sheridan to keep the town from being burned. The factory had been taken over by the Confederacy and used to manufacture woolen clothing for the soldiers. It caught fire when some coals taken by Union troops to burn the nearby railroad bridge dropped on the floor. The factory was rebuilt…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , virtually all of which is land. Charlottesville is located in central Virginia along the Rivanna River—a tributary of the James—just west of the Southwest Mountains, a range which parallels the Blue Ridge about to the west. Charlottesville is from Washington, D.C., and from Richmond. Charlottesville exists on rolling hills between the University of Virginia to its west and Rivanna River to its east. Charlottesville has a four-season humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa), with all months being well-watered, though the period from May to September is the wettest. Winters are somewhat cool, with a January average of , though lows can fall into the teens (< −7&nbsp;°C) on some nights and highs frequently (11 days in January) reach .), 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1893–present | single line = Y | collapsed = | Jan record high F = 81 | Feb record high F = 84 | Mar record high F = 94 | Apr record high F = 98 | May record high F = 100 | Jun record high F = 105 | Jul record high F = 107 | Aug record high F = 107 | Sep record high F = 107 | Oct record high F = 98 | Nov record high F = 88 | Dec record high F = 83 | year record high F = 107 | Jan high F = 44.7 | Feb high F = 48.7 | Mar high F = 56.5 | Apr high F = 68.3 | May high F = 75.4 | Jun high F = 83.1 | Jul high F = 87.4 | Aug high F = 85.6 | Sep high F = 79.2 | Oct high F = 68.5 | Nov high F = 57.7 | Dec high F = 48.1 | year high F = 66.9 | Jan mean F = 36.2 | Feb mean F = 39.1 | Mar mean F = 46.4 | Apr mean F = 57.1 | May mean F = 65.4 | Jun mean F = 73.5 | Jul mean F = 77.6 | Aug mean F = 75.9 | Sep mean F = 69.4 | Oct mean F = 58.7 | Nov mean F = 48.5 | Dec mean F = 40.0 | year mean F = 57.3 | Jan low F = 27.7 | Feb low F = 29.5 | Mar low…

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  28,096
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  26,068
• Tufted Titmouse

  Baeolophus bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  23,080
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  22,662
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  21,796
• Carolina Chickadee

  Poecile carolinensis (Audubon, 1834) · Aves
  21,130
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  20,178
• Eastern Bluebird

  Sialia sialis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  19,463

Largest nearby schools

• CHARLOTTESVILLE HIGH
  High · Charlottesville · 1,359 students · 11.5:1 ratio
• Walker Upper Elementary
  Middle · Charlottesville · 616 students · 12.1:1 ratio
• Jackson P. Burley Middle
  Middle · Charlottesville · 586 students · 12.2:1 ratio
• BUFORD MIDDLE
  Middle · Charlottesville · 581 students · 12.1:1 ratio
• Clark Elementary
  Elementary · Charlottesville · 353 students · 11.4:1 ratio
• Jackson-Via Elementary
  Elementary · Charlottesville · 344 students · 11.5:1 ratio
• Johnson Elementary
  Elementary · Charlottesville · 322 students · 11.9:1 ratio
• Greenbrier Elementary
  Elementary · Charlottesville · 315 students · 14.3:1 ratio