Botetourt County, Virginia: History
First proposed in the House of Burgesses in 1767, Botetourt County was created in 1770 from Augusta County. The county is named for Norborne Berkeley, 4th Baron Botetourt, who served as governor of the colony of Virginia from 1768 to 1770, when he died suddenly while in office.
In 1772, the county was reduced to the area east of the New and Kanawha rivers by the creation of Fincastle County. Most of that latter county became the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1792. The other counties established directly from portions of Botetourt County are: Rockbridge (1778), Bath (1791), Alleghany (1822), Roanoke (1833), and Craig (1851).