Abingdon, Virginia (Howe)

Abingdon, the county-seat, is 304 miles SW. of Richmond, 8 N. of the Tennessee line, 56 from Wytheville, and 130 from Knoxville, Tenn. This, by far the most considerable and flourishing town in SW. Virginia, was established by law in Oct. 1778, on 120 acres of land given for the purpose by Thomas Walker, Joseph Black, and Samuel Briggs, Esqs., and the following gentlemen were appointed trustees: Even Shelby, William Campbell, Daniel Smith, William Edmondson, Robert Craig, and Andrew Willoughby. The town stands on an elevation; it is substantially built, with many brick buildings; the principle street is macadamized, and the town is surrounded by a fertile, flourishing, and thickly-settled agricultural country. It contains several large mercantile stores, 2 newspaper printing offices, 1 Presbyterian, 2 Methodist, and 1 Swedenborgian church, a variety of mechanical and manufacturing establishments, and a population of over 1000.