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Gordonsville VA

Gordonsville is a town in Orange County, Virginia, located 19 miles northeast of Charlottesville and 65 miles northwest of Richmond. In 1787, Nathaniel Gordon purchased 1,350 acres of land in the area from a cousin of James Madison, and he founded a tavern in 1794, earning the praise of President Thomas Jefferson in 1802. George Washington, Jefferson, James Monroe, James Barbour, Philip Pendleton Barbour, James Waddel, William Wirt, Henry Clay, and the Marquis de Lafayette visited the tavern, which was located on the road from Charlottesville to Washington DC. In 1813, the post office of Gordonsville was founded, and the extension of the Louisa Railroad after 1839 led to Gordonsville experiencing a boom in its size and prosperity. Gordonsville became a transportation hub during the 1850s, and, during the American Civil War, it served as a transit hub for Confederate soldiers and as a hospital for wounded soldiers during the many battles fought nearby. Gordonsville was incorporated as a town in 1870, by which time Gordonsville had 1,500 residents. Gordonsville became known as a fast food emporium that same decade, as vendors served fast food to railroad passengers, but Gordonsville transformed into a rural market town after the railroad routes changed. Fires in 1916 and 1920 devastated the downtown area, resulting in the reconstruction of modern Gordonsville. By 2019, Gordonsville had a population of 1,624 people, of whom 70.7% were white, 23.7% Black, 4.3% Hispanic, 2.5% mixed, and .5% Asian.

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