Where, Exactly, is the Center of Virginia?

Seems like a fairly innocuous question. Is the Commonwealth's center the 0-mile marker located on the grounds of the State Capital the center? Or, as many Richmonders believe, is it located in the Bull and Bear at One James Center? Tidewater residents might contend that the true nexus is the Harbor Club in Norfolk. Northern Virginians might look to the Tower Club in the Tysons area, which bills itself as “the center of gravity” for the region. While these waterholes may lay claim to being the Axes of Ego in Virginia, where is the geographical center?

I've always thought of the center as a location near Farmville, but I did some digging to make sure. It turns out that there is no commonly recognized definition of "geographical center." One definition is the point where an imaginary, flat and rigid map of the Commonwealth would balance an equal amount of land on all sides. By that criteria, Virginia’s center is indeed about 20 miles north of Farmville. A Web source, describing access to the Carter Taylor Trail in the Appomattox-Buckingham State Forest, makes note of a marker designating the spot near the intersection of U.S. 60 and VA 24 in Buckingham County.

An alternative definition is center of population. Again, imagine the point where a floating, rigid weightless Commonwealth would balance if all its residents were the same weight. In 1950 the U.S. Census designated the population center of Virginia to be near... Farmville. The county seat of Prince Edward County maintained this distinction for a decade until population growth pushed the center north and east to Powhatan County in 1960 and 1970. By 2000, the population center had migrated to three miles north of Maidens in Goochland County, according to 2002 story in the Free-Lance Star.
Farmville still could be considered the Commonwealth’s center if you fudge a little. After all, at least five counties in the area promote themselves as “near the geographic center of Virginia.”

A case could be made that Farmville also stands at the center of Virginia history. The town was founded in 1798, and it boasts boasts Hampden-Sydney College, established in 1776, and Longwood University, set up in 1839 as Farmville Female Seminary, the first state teacher training college in Virginia. At nearby Sailor’s Creek, the last major battle of the Civil War took place. In 1951 student strike at Moton High School that paved the way for school desegregation in the U.S.

Situated equidistant from Richmond and Lynchburg, Farmville is a Sunday day-trip destination for those visiting the many warehouses of the unique Green Front Furniture enterprise; exhibits at the Longwood Center for the Visual Arts; or the Robert Russa Moton Museum commemorating the student strike.

Lest I sound too much like a tour guide, here’s what a town near Virginia’s center looks like. According to city-data.com, as of 2000, its population was 6,845. The median resident age is 22.4 years (probably due to those college kids); the median household income is $26,343 and the median house value is $96,000. Thirty-five percent of the population is married; 77.3 percent of those over 25 have a high school diploma or higher; and 29.2 percent have a bachelor’s degree or higher.

But the town is much more than facts and figures. Kathryn Orth, a Richmond Times-Dispatch staff writer who covers Farmville, regularly reports on life at Virginia’s center. In her September 28 column, she reported on the town’s new vistas, created when the Main Street Mall, destroyed by a fire in July, was torn down the day before hurricane Isabel hit. The gap in the buildings along Main Street, she wrote, allowed unobstructed views of Ed’s Family Dry Cleaners on one side and a new view of Longwood University up High Street on another.

Orth titled her piece “Farmville’s Residents Can See Their Town in New Directions.” While she was referring to physical changes in her town, perhaps the movers and shakers seeking new directions in Virginia’s social and political “centers” need to search for the Commonwealth’s actual core in places like Farmville.

Next time we fearlessly answer this question: What happened to the moustache of former Governor Douglas Wilder?

October 20, 2003

Nice & Curious