Bluefield Virginia
“Virginia’s Tallest Town”
Town of Bluefield VA
The town of Bluefield located in Tazewell county is surrounded by the Virginia majestic mountains. The town of Bluefield is a community minded, family-oriented, friendly and safe place to visit and live. Bluefield, has popular restaurant chains, shopping centers, locally owned businesses and boutiques.
In this four-season community, you will enjoy many events, such as the Autumn Jamboree Festival and Annual Community Christmas Gathering, a local Farmer’s Market open every Friday, Friday evenings for local musical entertainment at “Evening Shade”, Saturday nights watch outdoor movies during “Sunset at the Square”.
Graham Recreational Park offers picnic shelters and amphitheater,walking trail, playgrounds, tennis courts, volleyball area and baseball field. When the weather turns warm, Harmony Acres swimming pool is the coolest place to be. Graham Recreation Park and Harmony Acres Swimming Pool are open to the public and available for reservations.
If you are interested in history and site-seeing, be sure to check out the Sanders House and Baily Log House, both located in Bluefield, Virginia. These houses are part of our town’s heritage and are available for tours.
History of Bluefield VA
Bluefield has not always borne the name Bluefield. The town developed around a small post office named “Pin Hook” in the 1860s, named for a small creek that ran through the community. For a brief time it was known as the community of Harman, named after a Civil War hero from the area who had been shot during the Battle of Cloyd’s Mountain in Pulaski County, Virginia. Later, after coal was discovered and a company was formed to build a railroad to the coalfields, the community’s name was changed again to “Graham” to honor Col. Thomas Graham, a Philadelphia capitalist. The town was first chartered by the Commonwealth of Virginia as the town of Graham in 1884. The Norfolk and Western railroad chose Bluefield, West Virginia over Graham as the place to build its regional headquarters and main docking yards for the Pocahontas region. As a result, Bluefield, West Virginia grew at a much faster rate than did Graham.
The Great Depression of the 1930s caused development in the region to come to a halt. The current Bluefield did not start to expand beyond the downtown area until the 1950s, when it annexed the small town of West Graham, Virginia to the west. It also began to develop land in the more open rural foothills to the south of the city.
The name Bluefield is derived from a species of chicory that has a dark blue flower, and from the bluegrass that grows in abundance in this area.
