Biohazard Cleanup Near West Pound Pound, VA

Pound is an incorporated town in Wise County, Virginia, stretching for about two miles alongside the Pound River in a valley at roughly 1,550 feet elevation, about four miles from the Kentucky state line.

The Pound area was explored in 1751 by Christopher Gist, and Pound is traditionally said to be the oldest settlement in Wise County.

Local tradition traces the town's name to a horse-operated mortar-and-pestle mill that pounded grain into meal for settlers who came from miles around — the spot became known simply as "the Pound."

The first post office in what is now Wise County was established at Pound in 1848.

Despite being the county's oldest settlement, Pound was the last town in Wise County to incorporate, not doing so until 1950.

The 2020 census counted 877 residents in the Town of Pound, down from a mid-twentieth-century peak of roughly 1,200 people.

Pound nearly lost its town government in the 2020s: a 2022 Virginia law would have revoked the town's charter in 2023 over fiscal and political difficulties, but the charter was restored on February 2, 2023.

In 2021, state officials required Pound to transfer its water and sewer system to Wise County after the town failed to meet water quality regulations.

Pound High School, opened in 1953 and home of the Wildcats, served the town until 2011, when Wise County consolidated it with J.J. Kelly High School to form Central High School; an earlier Pound school, Christopher Gist High School, was named for the explorer who passed through in 1751.

Pound celebrates its bluegrass heritage with music at the Pound Town Hall on Thursday nights, and the town sits along Virginia's Crooked Road heritage music trail.