History:

The first recorded foray by the colonists into what is now Brunswick County occurred in 1650. Explorers left Fort Henry (Petersburg) to follow the Occoneeche trail on an expedition for trading with the Indians to the south. By 1714 the area was known well enough that it was selected by Governor Alexander Spotswood as the site of Fort Christanna, a trading depot and school for Indian children.

The Town was created officially by an act of the General Assembly on 22 January 1814. The act directed that twenty acres of land belonging to Peggy Williams be laid off into lots and be know as Lawrenceville. Legend has it that the name was inspired by a famous racehorse, Lawrence, owned by a prosperous landowner who had built a nearby race track at the end of the eighteenth century.

Incorporation for the Town of Lawrenceville was achieved in 1874. Mr. Charles E. May later recalled the town of that era as “a very small village consisting of a courthouse, a few small stores, two blacksmith shops, a shoe maker’s shop and several dwellings