Gazetteer/Almanac
Headnote
GRAYSON was formed in 1793, from Wythe, and named after a distinguished member of the Virginia convention that ratified the federal constitution. This is a wild and thinly-settled mountainous tract, lying on the North Carolina line, at the southeastern corner of western Virginia. It is drained by the New River and "its branches. Its limits were reduced in 1842 by the formation of Carrol county. Pop. in 1840, whites 8,542, slaves 492, free colored 53; total, 9,087. (Historical Collections, 1852)