Map of Chatham town, Virginia

Chatham is a town in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, United States. It is the county seat of Pittsylvania County. Chatham’s population was 1,232 at the 2020 census. It is included in the Danville, Virginia Metropolitan Statistical Area. The town was originally called Competition, but the name was changed to Chatham by the Virginia General Assembly on May 1, 1852.

Chatham is home to Chatham High School, Hargrave Military Academy, and Chatham Hall, an all-female boarding high school.

Chatham town overview:
Name:	Chatham town
LSAD Code:	43
LSAD Description:	town (suffix)
State:	Virginia
County:	Pittsylvania County
Elevation:	748 ft (228 m)
Total Area:	2.03 sq mi (5.26 km²)
Land Area:	2.03 sq mi (5.26 km²)
Water Area:	0.00 sq mi (0.01 km²)
Total Population:	1,232
Population Density:	703.30/sq mi (271.49/km²)
ZIP code:	24531
Area code:	434
FIPS code:	5115000
GNISfeature ID:	1498464

Online Interactive Map

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Chatham online map. Source: Basemap layers from Google Map, Open Street Map (OSM), Arcgisonline, Wmflabs. Boundary Data from Database of Global Administrative Areas.

Chatham location map. Where is Chatham town?

Chatham location on the U.S. Map. Where is Chatham town. — Chatham location on the U.S. Map.

Chatham location on the Virginia map. Where is Chatham town. — Location of Chatham in Virginia.

History

It is the home to the oldest continually used building in Pittsylvania County, once an 18th-century tavern, since turned into a house and now occupied by Chatham Hall faculty. Chatham is the county seat for Pittsylvania County and has held that status since 1777. There is a large U.S. Department of Agriculture office to support farmers in the area and a small branch office of the U.S. Forestry Service. The State of Virginia has built a new state prison at the site of an old work-release camp and this led to infrastructure upgrades in fire and water services to support the increased population.

Chatham did not see any battle action during the Civil War although it is between Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy, and Danville, which contained Confederate prisons for captured Union soldiers. On Confederate Memorial Day each year, the local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy places flowers at the statue of a Confederate soldier which is prominent in the front of the historic Pittsylvania County Court House. There is a walking tour of this downtown historic district and a brochure for this is available at the Town Hall, or at the Historical Society building next to Town Hall. There are several bed & breakfast establishments located on Main Street in historic Greek Revival homes.