[4] The first court met in May 1786 in the Castle's Woods settlement (present-day Castlewood) in the house of William Robinson.

The largest cattle farm East of the Mississippi River, and one of the oldest corporations in the country, Stuart Land & Cattle, remains headquartered at Rosedale in Russell County.

Much of the county's history has been documented by Clinch Valley Times, the Tazewell Republican, the Abingdon Virginian, and the Lebanon News.

[6] Russell County is one of the 423 counties served by the Appalachian Regional Commission,[7] 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.

[8] The county has the fourth highest peak in Virginia, Beartown Mountain.

The 2010 census showed a population decline, with only 28,897 residing in Russell County.

23.10% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.00% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.