Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in Virginia, United States. It is the seat of government of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Charlotte. At the 2020 census, the population of the city was 46,553. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the City of Charlottesville with Albemarle County for statistical purposes, bringing its population to approximately 160,000. Charlottesville is the heart of the Charlottesville metropolitan area, which includes Albemarle, Buckingham, Fluvanna, Greene, and Nelson counties.
Charlottesville Downtown Mall
View of Monticello from its gardens
The Rotunda at the University of Virginia, designed by Thomas Jefferson
S&P Global building in Charlottesville
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equivalent term, shire town, is used in the U.S. state of Vermont and in several other English-speaking jurisdictions. County towns usually serve a similar function in Ireland, Jamaica, and the United Kingdom.
The old courthouse in Centreville, Maryland, the county seat of Queen Anne's County, Maryland, U.S.
Miaoli, the county seat of Miaoli County in Taiwan
Allentown, Pennsylvania, the third-largest city in Pennsylvania and county seat of Lehigh County
Many county seats in the United States feature a historic courthouse, such as this one in Renville County, Minnesota.