Stafford, Virginia

Stafford is an unincorporated community in and the county seat of Stafford County in the northern part of the U.S. state of Virginia.GR|6 It lies convert|10|mi|km|0 north of Fredericksburg, approximately convert|40|mi|km|0 south of metropolitan Washington, D.C., and about convert|60|mi|km|0 north of Richmond, the state capital (Connor, 2003). The Marine Corps Base Quantico is located north of the community. U.S. Highway 1, Interstate 95, and Virginia Railway Express commuter trains pass through Stafford. Like the rest of Northern Virginia, as well as central Maryland, modern Stafford has been shaped by its proximity to the nation's capital. It is largely populated by professionals working in the federal civil service, the U.S. military, or for one of the many private companies which contract to provide services to the federal government. The latter are known locally as beltway bandits, after the Capital Beltway, an interstate highway that circles Washington, D.C.

Random Historical Facts About Stafford

*Residents and Stafford natives are referred to as Staffordians.Connor Jr., Albert Z. (2003). "A History of Our Own", Virginia Beach: The Donning Company Publishers.]
*Historical Stafford is referred to as "Old Stafford."
*Stafford was once home to Margaret Brent, America's first female attorney.
*Both George Washington, America's first president, and George Mason spent their formative years in Stafford.
*The first "visitors" of Stafford were prehistoric creatures called theropods, which were flesh-eating dinosaurs, and planting-eating dinosaurs called ornithopods. Paleontologist, Joe Bachman, found these fossils in Stafford in 1995, which were 110 million-years-old.
*The first Native American tribes of Stafford included the Manahoacs and Powhatans.

Education

High schools

* Brooke Point High School
* Colonial Forge High School
* Mountain View High School
* North Stafford High School
* Stafford Senior High School

References

External links

* [http://co.stafford.va.us/ Official Site for the County]
* [http://www.pen.k12.va.us/Div/Stafford/ Stafford County Public Schools]
* [http://www.mysouthstafford.com South Stafford Community Web Site]