Franklin County, Virginia facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Franklin County
U.S. county
Franklin County Courthouse in May 2010
Location within the U.S. state of Virginia
Virginia's location within the U.S.
Country	United States
State	Virginia
Founded	1785
Named for	Benjamin Franklin
Seat	Rocky Mount
Largest town	Rocky Mount
Area
• Total	712 sq mi (1,840 km2)
• Land	690 sq mi (1,800 km2)
• Water	21 sq mi (50 km2)  3.0%
Population  (2020)
• Total	54,477
• Density	77/sq mi (30/km2)
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
Congressional district	9th

Franklin County is a county located in the Blue Ridge foothills of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 54,477. Its county seat is Rocky Mount. Franklin County is part of the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area and is located in the Roanoke Region of Virginia. The Roanoke River forms its northeast boundary with Bedford County.

History

Franklin County historic marker, State of Virginia

The Blue Ridge Foothills had long been inhabited by Native Americans. At the time of European encounter, mostly Siouan-speaking tribes lived in this area.

A few colonists moved into the area before the American Revolutionary War, but most settlement happened afterward, as people moved west seeking new lands. Cultivation of tobacco had exhausted soils in the eastern part of the state. The county was formed in 1785 from parts of Bedford and Henry counties. It was named for Benjamin Franklin. The Piedmont and backcountry areas were largely settled by Scots-Irish, who were the last major immigrant group from the British Isles to enter the colonies before the Revolutionary War. There were also migrants from coastal areas, including free people of color, who moved to the frontier to escape racial strictures associated with the slave society of Virginia.

The Great Moonshine Conspiracy era

In the 20th century during Prohibition, local wits named Franklin County the "Moonshine Capital of the World", as moonshine production and bootlegging drove the economy. As of 2000, the local chamber of commerce had adopted the title as a heritage identification for the area. Moonshine is still being made in the area.

Historians estimate that in the 1920s, 99 of every 100 Franklin County residents were in some way involved in the illegal liquor trade. The bootleggers became involved with gangsters from Chicago and other major cities, and some local law enforcement officials were part of the criminal activities and killing of competitors. "Between 1930 and 1935 local still operators and their business partners sold a volume of whiskey that would have generated $5,500,000 in excise taxes at the old 1920 tax rate."

A lengthy federal investigation resulted in indictments and trials for 34 suspects in 1935 for what was called the "Great Moonshine Conspiracy," which attracted national attention. The writer Sherwood Anderson was among the many outsiders who came to cover the trial. At what was then the longest trial in state history, 31 people were convicted, but their jail sentences were relatively light (two years or less). Thirteen conspirators were sentenced only to probation.

This period has recently received new attention by writers. T. Keister Greer's history The Great Moonshine Conspiracy Trial of 1935 (2002) covered the trial and its background in the county. The writer Matt Bondurant had ancestors in the area, whose exploits during this period inspired his historical novel, The Wettest County in the World (2008). (The title was based on a statement by Anderson.) The book was adapted as a film, Lawless, in 2012. In 2014 an historical novel with much history about the county and town came out: "Moonshine Corner, Keys to Rocky Mount," ISBN: 9781500980115, by the widow of T. Keister Greer, Ibby Greer.

Late 20th century to present

Since the 1980s, much residential development has occurred around Smith Mountain Lake. People live there who commute to work in the urbanized areas of Roanoke, Lynchburg, Martinsville, and Danville. Retirees have also moved in, and both groups have increased the county's population.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 712 square miles (1,840 km²), of which 690 square miles (1,800 km²) is land and 21 square miles (54 km²) (3.0%) is water. It is upriver of the fall line of the Roanoke River, located at Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina.

Districts

The county is divided into supervisor districts; a few are: Blackwater, Blue Ridge, Boones Mill, Gills Creek, Rocky Mount, Snow Creek, Union Hall, Ferrum, Glade Hill, Penhook, and Callaway

Adjacent counties

• Bedford County, Virginia — northeast
• Pittsylvania County, Virginia — southeast
• Henry County, Virginia — south
• Patrick County, Virginia — southwest
• Floyd County, Virginia — west
• Roanoke County, Virginia — northwest

National protected areas

• Blue Ridge Parkway (part)
• Booker T. Washington National Monument

Major highways

• I-73 (future)
• US 220
• SR 40
• SR 116
• SR 122

Demographics

2020 census

Communities

Towns

• Boones Mill
• Rocky Mount

Census-designated places

• Ferrum
• Henry Fork
• North Shore
• Penhook
• Union Hall
• Westlake Corner

Other unincorporated communities

• Burnt Chimney
• Callaway
• Glade Hill
• Hale's Ford
• Naff
• Redwood
• Snow Creek
• Wirtz
• Fork Mountain

Notable people

• Jubal Anderson Early, Confederate general
• Booker T. Washington, a freedman (former slave) who became a leading educator and one of the prominent civil rights activists of his era, was born on the Burroughs Farm in Hale's Ford.
• Adam Clayton Powell Sr. (1865–1953), a prominent Baptist minister nationally, was born to Sally Dunning, a free woman of color whose family had been free for at least three generations before the Civil War. He worked his way through Wayland Seminary and graduate school at Yale University. After working in New Haven, he was called to the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, New York from 1908 to 1936, which he developed as the largest congregation in the US at the time, reaching 10,000 members.
• Bondurant Brothers; Howard, Forrest and Jack, were bootlegging brothers during the Prohibition Era from the Snow Creek Area of Franklin County. They are the main characters in Matt Bondurant's historical novel, The Wettest County in the World (2008), and in the film adapted from it, Lawless (2012).
• Ron Hodges, Major League Baseball catcher who played his entire career for the New York Mets from 1973 to 1984.
• Dwaine Board, National Football League Defensive Lineman and now Cleveland Browns defensive line coach was part of four Super Bowl victories for the San Francisco 49ers, three as a player (Super Bowl XVI, Super Bowl XIX, and Super Bowl XXIII) and one as a coach (Super Bowl XXIX). As a player Board recorded 61.0 career sacks and eight more in the postseason from 1979 to 1988. He earned Defensive Player of the Game honors in San Francisco's 38–16 win over Miami.
• Jesse L. Martin, actor, primarily known for his role as Detective Ed Green on the TV show Law & Order.
• Tarell Basham, National Football League outside linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys

In popular culture

• Franklin County is the setting for Matt Bondurant's historical novel, The Wettest County in the World (2008) set in the Prohibition era, featuring his grandfather and two great-uncles among the bootleggers.
• Franklin County is featured in the film Lawless (2012), adapted from the novel in a screenplay by Nick Cave. It is directed by John Hillcoat.
• Franklin County, and subsequently Smith Mountain Lake, was the setting for Touchstone Pictures 1991 film "What About Bob?". The comedy film was directed by Frank Oz, and starred Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss. Murray plays Bob Wiley, a psychiatric patient who follows his egotistical psychiatrist Dr. Leo Marvin (Dreyfuss) on vacation. When the unstable Bob befriends the other members of Marvin's family, it pushes the doctor over the edge.
• Franklin County is the setting for Rebecca Ore's novella, Alien Bootlegger.

See also

In Spanish: Condado de Franklin (Virginia) para niños