However, the "Grayson Dare Devils" (Company F, 4th Regiment of the Stonewall Brigade) were recruited from the Elk Creek Valley of Grayson County shortly after Virginia seceded and sustained significant losses as the First Battle of Manassas.

[5] The Old Grayson County Courthouse and Clerk's Office renovated circa 1834 still exists but is now located near what since 1953 is the independent city of Galax, Virginia.

Textile and then furniture factories arrived in Galax (which was planned as a town near the old village of Blair on a plateau beginning in 1903 and renamed after a plant harvested from the surrounding mountains).

Also, the New River was dammed at Fries to power a cotton mill, which also led to more direct service by the Norfolk and Western to Troutdale (which later faltered).

[7] Grayson County is one of the 423 counties served by the Appalachian Regional Commission,[8] and it is identified as part of "Greater Appalachia" by Colin Woodard in his book American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America.

It struggled to attract and retain business; a situation made much worse beginning in 2009 with the recession.

20,000 acres are being exploited for growing industrial Christmas trees; migrant laborer workers are transported to complete the risky jobs replacing local for hire signs/opportunities.

As part of the reformation of county government beginning in 2009, the new but idle River North Correctional Center was activated by the state brought in several hundred jobs.

Independence Lumber suffered significant losses in a fire in November 2012 which forced it to relocate operations to North Carolina.

By 2015 the county had reversed its fiscal direction, revitalized the business climate, and begun to regain the confidence of its citizens.

Located in the Appalachian region of the United States, Grayson County has long been famous for its traditional, or "old-time" music and musicians.

The Old Fiddler's Convention, one of the most prominent traditional music contests in the United States, has been held annually in Galax since 1935.