Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Five miles south lies the main campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, founded in 1872 as a land-grant college specializing in agriculture and mechanical arts. The land-grant college system initiated scientific agricultural and industrial instruction in the Commonwealth. Over the next century, Virginia Tech became nationally recognized as a comprehensive research university with a broad range of scientific, technological, business, and liberal arts instruction. The 3,000-acre campus includes the site of Draper's Meadow, where Shawnee Indians attacked settlers on 30 July 1755 at the beginning of the French and Indian War.