Stuart, VA

Stuart is the county seat of Patrick County, set in a small valley where the Mayo River runs through the Blue Ridge foothills. Highways 8 and 58 meet here, and the town’s two-part center still makes sense on the ground: Uptown holds the courthouse and government offices, while Downtown carries local commerce and community activity. Stuart began as Taylorsville in 1792 and took its current name after the Civil War, honoring Confederate cavalry general J.E.B. Stuart, who was born in nearby Ararat.

The Uptown Historic District gathers the older county-seat core, and the Mayo River Rail Trail follows the former Danville and Western Railway through downtown. Patrick County Public Schools places Stuart Elementary and Patrick County High School within town, keeping the school system close to the courthouse and river. Music is another local thread: the Easter Brothers, a Patrick County gospel group with national reach, are honored each July at the Homecoming Gospel Sing in Dominion Valley Park. Stuart’s setting is distinctly foothill-town—court offices, old Main Street buildings, a river trail, and a festival calendar all meeting in one small county seat.