Blood, Trauma, and Biohazard Cleanup in Marion, VA

Marion is an incorporated town and the county seat of Smyth County in Southwest Virginia, set on Interstate 81 in the Blue Ridge portion of the southern Appalachian Mountains.

The town is named for Francis Marion, the American Revolutionary War officer, and its motto is "America's Coolest Hometown."

The U.S. Census Bureau counted 5,751 people in Marion in the 2020 census, and Census survey figures for 2020–2024 put the town at about 2,431 households averaging 2.10 persons each.

Marion's ZIP code area reaches well beyond the town limits to roughly 14,500 people — about half of all Smyth County residents use a Marion mailing address.

In December 1864, during the Civil War, the town was the site of the Battle of Marion, fought as Union forces campaigned against Confederate salt and lead resources in Southwest Virginia.

Marion College, a two-year Lutheran women's college, operated in the town from 1873 to 1967.

Marion is home to the Southwestern Virginia Mental Health Institute, which has operated continuously since May 1887.

Marion claims a fizzy place in American pop culture: the modern formula of Mountain Dew was created here, after the Marion-based Tip Corporation bought the drink's rights in 1961 and resident William H. "Bill" Jones reworked the flavor, leading Pepsi to buy the company in 1964.

Just outside Marion sits Hungry Mother State Park, one of the six original Virginia state parks created in the 1930s.

Two giant side-by-side water towers just off Interstate 81 at Exit 47 serve as Marion's roadside landmark — one painted "HOT" in red letters and the other "COLD" in blue.