Emergency Biohazard Cleanup Services in Blackstone, VA

Blackstone is an incorporated town in Nottoway County in Virginia's Southside region, and it is the largest town in the county.

The settlement began before the Revolutionary War as the village of "Blacks and Whites," a name taken from the two tavern keepers at the crossroads.

After a spell under the name Bellefonte in the 1870s and early 1880s, the town was incorporated on February 23, 1886, with the name Blackstone, honoring the influential English jurist William Blackstone.

The 2020 census counted 3,352 residents in Blackstone, and the 2000 census had recorded 1,430 households in the town.

Blackstone's economy long thrived as a center for dark leaf tobacco sales, with crops shipped out through its railroad station.

The town's street grid was laid out in 1874, and its downtown core survives as the Blackstone Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Schwartz Tavern, built in stages from about 1790 to 1840, is the oldest building in Blackstone and now serves as a museum.

Just outside town stands Fort Barfoot, established by the U.S. Army in 1941 as Camp Pickett and renamed in 2023; it is now the headquarters of the Virginia National Guard and a major driver of the local economy.

In May 2014 the U.S. Department of State selected the post as the site of its Foreign Affairs Security Training Center, built to train 8,000 to 10,000 students a year, many of them diplomats.

Local children attend Blackstone Primary School, and older students continue in Nottoway County Public Schools, including Nottoway High School.