Tazewell

The mountain country of Tazewell was long used as a hunting ground by Indigenous peoples. Near the summit of Paintlick Mountain, carvings in the rock bear witness to an older human presence in these highlands. In the spring of 1771 Thomas and John Witten established a settlement at Crab Orchard. As the settler population grew, Virginia created Tazewell County in 1799 and named it for Henry Tazewell, a senator who had died earlier that year. The following year Jeffersonville was established as its county seat.