Gordonsville, VA

Gordonsville is an Orange County town about 19 miles northeast of Charlottesville and 65 miles northwest of Richmond. The 2020 census counted 1,402 residents. Nathaniel Gordon's tavern and post office helped give the town its name, then the Virginia Central and Orange & Alexandria railroads turned the crossroads into a transportation stop. The Exchange Hotel, built beside the rail junction in 1860, became a Civil War receiving hospital that admitted more than 23,000 sick and wounded in less than a year; it now operates as the Exchange Hotel Civil War Museum.

Historic downtown Gordonsville still follows the old Main Street, with the museum, restaurants, shops, and town events in the same railroad-era core. The events committee organizes Touch-a-Truck Day, an annual Halloween Bash, and a Christmas parade, while the town's food history returns through the annual Fried Chicken Festival. Gordonsville is a crossroads town where rail travel, Civil War history, and an active Main Street overlap in a compact footprint.