Culpeper County Probate Records

Culpeper County was established in 1749 from Orange County. Located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, it was named after Thomas Culpeper. During May 1749, the first Culpeper Court convened in the home of Robert Coleman, not far from where the Town of Culpeper is presently located. In July 1749, George Washington, a young man of only seventeen years, was commissioned as the first County surveyor. One of his first duties was to lay out the County's courthouse complex, which included the courthouse, jail, stocks, gallows and accessory buildings. By 1752 the complex stood at what is presently the northeast corner of Davis and Main Streets. The courthouse village was named the Town of Fairfax after Thomas, Sixth Baron Fairfax.