The Bland County Web Site Project is a unique partnership between Bland County County Government, local businesses, and the Bland County School System. The web site is created and maintained by the students of the Rocky Gap High School and is a part of a place based curriculum that includes award winning web sites and the nationally recognized Bland County History Archives. The project has also received support from the Appalachian Rural Education Network and Rural Schools and Community Trust.

Bland County Profile

Bland County, named for the prominent Virginia patriot, Richard Bland, is situated on the edge of the southwest portion of the Great Valley of Virginia.  Formed from parts of Giles, Wythe, and Tazewell Counties in 1861, the county's area is 369 square miles; it has 6,500 residents with an average population density of 17 persons per square mile. About 45 percent of the current population is concentrated in Rocky Gap, Bastian, and Bland.

Nearly 78 percent of the County's total area is wooded with approximately 32 percent of the mountainous portions in the Jefferson National Forest.  Gentle slopes range between Bastian and Rocky Gap and in the valleys around Ceres, Bland, and Mechanicsburg.  These areas also contain cultivated portions of the county.  I-77 runs through the central part of Bland County and is bringing increased industrialization and the economic properity associated with it.

Bland County is divided into four magisterial districts:  Mechanicsburg, Rocky Gap, Seddon, and Sharon.   A Board of Supervisors composed of four elected representatives, one from each district, is the legislative and administrative arm of the County.