Lee County/Wise County

Lee County Lee County, the western-most county in Virginia, was formed from Russell County in 1792; a part of Scott County was added later. The county is named for Henry “Light-Horse Harry” Lee, governor of Virginia from 1791 to 1794 and former American Revolutionary War officer. Cumberland Gap National Historic Park lies partly in Lee County and in the states of Kentucky and Tennessee. The Cumberland Gap was the principal route through the mountains that Native Americans and early European settlers used to travel to the west and the south. The county seat is Jonesville. Wise County Wise County was formed in 1856 from Lee, Scott, and Russell Counties. It was named for Henry Alexander Wise who was governor of Virginia from 1856 to 1860. The county seat is the town of Wise. After the Civil War the town of Wise grew and the county's industry expanded because of the growth of the railroads and the increased mining of coal in the region. Noted novelist John Fox Jr. lived in the town of Big Stone Gap here for a portion of his life and wrote the best-selling novels The Trail of the Lonesome Pine and The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come.