Orange County /

Orange County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the population was 33,885. Its county seat is Orange. The area was inhabited for thousands of years by varying cultures of indigenous peoples. At the time of European encounter, the historic Siouan-speaking Manahoac tribe lived in this Piedmont area. The first European settlement in what was to become Orange County was Germanna, formed when Governor Alexander Spotswood settled 12 immigrant families from Westphalia, Germany there in 1714; a total of 42 people. Settlers established the legal entity of Orange County in 1734 from a portion of Spotsylvania County. Unlike other counties whose boundaries had ended at the Blue Ridge Mountains, Orange was conceived of as extending to the Mississippi River and Great Lakes. The colony of Virginia claimed the land, but very little of it had yet been occupied by any English. For this reason, some contend that Orange County was at one time the largest county that ever existed. This condition lasted only four years; in 1738 most of the western tract was split off into Augusta County. Orange County was named for Prince William III of Orange, a famous Protestant King of