[1] Its county seat is Palmyra,[2] while the most populous community is the census designated place of Lake Monticello.

Through the 17th century, the Point of Fork (near Columbia where the James and Rivanna rivers meet) was the site of Rassawek, a major Monacan village of the Native Americans.

Fluvanna area citizens lobbied the Virginia General Assembly to create a new county.

Lyles Baptist Church was organized in 1774 and the formation of the Methodist denomination had its roots in a Conference held in Fluvanna in 1779.

When Palmyra was made the county seat in 1828 it quickly became a thriving town after the new courthouse was completed in 1830.

In the late eighteenth century, Thomas Jefferson improved the navigability of the Rivanna River, as he owned much property along its upper course, e.g. Shadwell and Monticello plantations.

Second-generation (1840–1870) improvements made by others included construction of long stretches of canal, serviced by large locks, many of which are still visible along the river.

Shortly after the completion of the initial Rivanna navigational works, Virginia requested that the river be opened to public usage.

Jefferson reportedly initially refused, but the state insisted and the Rivanna became an integral part of the central Virginian transportation network.

The route serviced a large community of farmsteads, plantations throughout Albemarle and Fluvanna counties.

For instance, Union Mills featured a two-and-a-half-mile long canal and towpath, and one upper and two massive lower locks, all directly upon the river.

(The series of locks which connected the two canals lie just outside the Town of Columbia and are mostly buried by sediment today).

While no Civil War battles were fought in Fluvanna, Union soldiers burned mills and bridges and damaged the James River and Kanawha Canal to disrupt traffic and commerce.

The canal was repaired after the war, but traffic never returned to pre-war levels, as railroads were being constructed throughout the state and were more efficient.

The new Richmond and Allegheny Railroad offered a water-level route from the Appalachian Mountains just east of West Virginia near Jackson's River Station (now Clifton Forge) through the Blue Ridge Mountains at Balcony Falls to Richmond.

In 1902, the academy took on a military structure to provide organization, discipline, and physical development for the boys of what was a rapidly growing school.

That same year, the academy began receiving support from the Baptist General Association of Virginia, which has continued into the 21st century.

FUMA is known for its One Subject Plan as well as Post Graduate Football team that has many NFL players and Heisman Trophy winners as alumni.

The Virginia Air Line Railway was built to move loads that were too high or too wide to pass through the tunnels of the Blue Ridge Mountain complex between Charlottesville and Waynesboro.

Fluvanna County High school is famous for its unique nickname, 'The Flying Flucos'.

[15] In October 2020, Governor Northam announced Silk City Printing of Paterson, NJ would relocate to Fork Union, VA to occupy the plant vacated by Thomasville Furniture in 2007.