South Boston (Virginia)
Halifax County
51-73712
South Boston is a small town ( Town) in the U.S. state of Virginia. In the 2010 census 8142 people lived in the city. This South Boston is by far the largest town in Halifax County, but not its administrative headquarters.
East of city center and just outside the city limits is the South Boston Speedway, a 0.4- mile-long oval track for stock cars.
Geography
South Boston is located in the south of Virginia, about 17 north of the border with North Carolina. The city lies on the lower reaches of the Dan River shortly before it opens into the John H. Kerr Reservoir. The vast majority of South Boston is on the north bank of the river, but the 31.7 km ² large metropolitan area also includes small areas south of the Dan River.
History
At the point where today a railway bridge over the Dan River crosses, John Boyd built in the 1750s a ferry. In the American War of Independence in 1781 Nathanael Greene here crossed the river in the course of a strategic retreat (The race to the Dan River) and thereby gave a decisive advantage over the British forces under General Cornwallis.
Near the ferry on the south bank of the Dan Rivers settled several families over the years. The young municipality has stagnated, however, because of the unfavorable subsoil in überschwemmungsgefährdetem area. An upswing came only in 1858 with the construction of the Richmond and Danville Railroad ( now owned by the Norfolk Southern Railway ). In addition, the city developed a new center on the north bank of the river as an important place for the tobacco trade. Since 1884, the resort is a registered municipality (town ). From 1960 to 1995 South Boston was comparable with an independent city Independent city and thus not part of Halifax County.
Sons and daughters
- Jeff Burton (born 1967 ), NASCAR driver
- Ward Burton ( born 1961 ), former NASCAR driver
- Michael Tucker (born 1971 ), former Major League Baseball player