The town encompasses several historically significant sites and features a fine arts and crafts scene centered on the galleries and museums along Main Street.

The region was long the territory of varying cultures of indigenous peoples, including the Chisca and Xualae.

From the late 17th-century, it was occupied by the Cherokee Nation, whose territory extended from the present-day area of borders of Tennessee, Virginia, and Kentucky through the spine of North Carolina and later into Georgia.

It was on the Great Road that Colonel William Byrd III ordered cut through the wilderness on to Kingsport, Tennessee.

They retreated to the fort in 1776 when attacked by the war leader Dragging Canoe and his Chickamauga Cherokee forces.

In 1778, Black's Fort was incorporated as the town of Abingdon, said to be named for Abingdon-on-Thames the ancestral home of Martha Washington in Oxfordshire, England.

Other possible namesakes for the town include Jake Dore's home in Abington, Pennsylvania, or Lord Abingdon, friend of settler William Campbell.

[11] Martha Washington College, a school for women, operated in Abingdon from 1860 to 1932 in the former residence of Gen. Francis Preston which was built about 1832.

In 1867, Roman Catholics opened Villa Maria Academy of the Visitation for the education of young ladies.

Abingdon is the final stop along the Virginia Creeper Trail, which allows pedestrian, cyclist and equestrian traffic.

This rail-to-trail conversion is 35 miles long, extending from Whitetop Mountain through Damascus, Virginia, with the trailhead in Abingdon.

[21] According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 8.3 square miles (21.6 km2), all land.

Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center, on the campus of VHCC, provides the region with access to undergraduate and graduate degree programs and courses.