Ashland is a town in Hanover County, Virginia, United States, located 16 miles (26 km) north of Richmond along Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 1.

Ashland is named after the Lexington, Kentucky estate of Hanover County native and statesman Henry Clay.

[5][6] The Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad initially developed the town in the 1840s as a mineral springs resort with a racetrack.

The town was named "Ashland" after native son Henry Clay's estate in Kentucky and was officially incorporated on February 19, 1858.

The area had been known as "The Slashes", sometimes translated as "swamp", but which also reflected the small ravines that formed in the sandy clay soil after hard rains.

Even before the war, the railroad began offering monthly passes to Richmond to people buying lots and building houses in Ashland.

The town's current Episcopal church is St. James the Less, on the other side of the railway line from Slash Church and whose congregation received monthly clergy visitations in the 1850s, and which in 1958 sold its 1866-consecrated and once-moved building as well as the old rectory (which still remains today, in private ownership) in order to build a larger one on the town's outskirts.

37-year-old Jeffrey Hopper was shot at 8:00 pm in the parking lot of a Ponderosa Steakhouse as he and his wife left the restaurant.

[citation needed] Ashland's major highway connection is to I-95 at exit 92, via Virginia State Route 54.

As those trains approach Ashland, onboard announcers point out the Randolph–Macon College campus and the houses and businesses facing the tracks.

Proposals in the 2016 "DC2RVA" study to improve rail service between Washington, D.C., and Richmond by expanding the existing double-track railroad to triple-track have prompted concerns about its impact on the prized ambiance of downtown Ashland.

The Main Street merchants' association said at a hearing that the additional track would result in "incalculable” loss to the city's "charm, the quaintness, and the aesthetic values".

[23] Pufferbelly Park, located behind the Ashland Police Department,[24] features playground facilities and the town's public skatepark, which opened in 2004.

Ten Hanover County Schools students each year receive Strawberry Faire scholarships.

[27] It features songs and skits performed by area residents and raises funds for the Hanover Arts & Activities Center in Ashland.