Lawrenceville, VA

Lawrenceville is the Brunswick County seat on the Meherrin River in southern Virginia. The 2020 census counted 1,014 residents. The courthouse square, county offices, Brunswick High School, local stores, and the roads feeding U.S. 58 and State Route 46 give the town its working center. The Meherrin River runs through the wider county landscape, while Southside communities and the North Carolina line shape the larger service and employment network.

Lawrenceville was established as the county seat in 1814 and incorporated in 1874. The Atlantic and Danville Railroad arrived in 1891, tying the town's farm economy to outside markets. The Lawrenceville Historic District still gathers the courthouse square, older commercial blocks, homes, former railroad resources, and the Saint Paul's College campus. James Solomon Russell began the school for Black children in 1888; it became Saint Paul's Normal and Industrial School and later Saint Paul's College. Lawrenceville remains a courthouse-and-school town whose history is written into the square, the former college grounds, and the roads that cross Brunswick County.