Author Lindley Butler traces the history of this northern Piedmont county from initial exploration by William Byrd II in 1728 to continued growth in 1981. Special attention is devoted to nineteenth- and twentieth-century developments in industry, agriculture, commerce, education, and political activity. Chapter titles include: "Natural History," "The Colonial and Revolutionary Period," "A New County" [formed in 1785], "Antebellum Development," "The Civil War Era," "The New South," and "The Twentieth Century." Fifty black-and-white illustrations, a bibliographical essay, and an index complete this book.