Among the historic tribes in the Piedmont were the Monacan, who were Siouan-speaking and were recorded as having several villages west of what the colonists later called Manakin Town on the James River.

They also were subject to raids by Iroquois nations from the north, who were based south of the Great Lakes in present-day New York and Pennsylvania.

By the end of the 17th century, the Monacan had been decimated by warfare and infectious diseases carried by the mostly English colonists and traders; their survivors were absorbed into other Siouan tribes.

[4] Among the earliest European settlers in this area of the Piedmont were several hundred French Huguenot religious refugees, who were given land in 1700 and 1701 by the Crown and colonial authorities about 20 miles above the falls of the James River.

In neighboring Powhatan County, to the south across the James, they settled Manakin Town, but by 1750 had mostly moved out to farms.

Goochland originally included all of the land from Tuckahoe Creek, on both sides of the James River, west as far as the Blue Ridge Mountains.

In addition, the northern sections of Appomattox, Campbell, and Bedford, and the southern two-thirds of Albemarle County were also within Goochland's original boundaries.

In Goochland, as in other areas of Virginia, many planters switched to growing wheat and mixed crops.

The exact location of this first court is unknown, but researchers believe that the first courthouse was constructed in Goochland County between 1730 and 1737.

It is said that the British general, who paused here on his way to Yorktown, where he would be defeated and surrender, remarked that this spot with its magnificent vista of the James River Valley would make an ideal site for a house.

[10] General Lafayette, a French hero of the Revolution, returned to the United States for a grand tour in 1824 and 1825.

On March 1, 1864, Dahlgren's forces reached the plantations of Sabot Hill, Dover, and Eastwood in eastern Goochland.

She answered the door and invited the officer in for some wine and Southern hospitality; she knew that Wise was on his way to Richmond and wanted to delay Dahlgren.

Ultimately, due to the quick thinking by the families in Goochland, Wise was able to warn forces in Richmond, who defeated Dahlgren's raid.

The state's practice of convict leasing was effectively a means of keeping African Americans in near-slavery conditions.

The legislature passed a variety of minor nuisance laws, with penalties of fees, which they knew the cash-poor sharecroppers could not readily pay.

As part of their effort at commemoration after the war, the Daughters of the Confederacy commissioned a monument to the Confederate dead, to be erected on the green of the Goochland Courthouse.

The congregation has some members descended from the original worshippers who were organized in 1748 at Tucker Woodson's farm by Samuel Davies, a theologian.

It retains many of its original architectural features, including its slate roof and interior window valances.

In 1973, Wayne Corporation of Richmond, Indiana introduced a safer design in school bus construction, the Lifeguard.

Pearl P. Randolph, the first black member of the Goochland County School Board, created the winning entry.

Her idea was to install sound baffles in the ceilings of school bus bodies to help reduce driver distraction.

Compact forms of such equipment were later developed in the 1980s by Wayne and other bus manufacturers when diesel engines (and their greater noise) became commonplace.

[15] Contributors to Goochland's increased growth in the early 2000s was the construction of the West Creek Business Park, as well as the completion of Richmond's semi-circumferential State Route 288.

The industrial park began attracting many businesses, including the corporate headquarters for Farm Bureau of Virginia and Performance Food Group (PFG), as well as Hallmark Youth Care, and CarMax.

The largest ethnic/ancestry groups in Goochland County are: "English" (16.3%), American (13.0%), German (11.8%), Irish (9.3%), Scots-Irish (4.0%) and Scottish (3.9%).