Louisa endorses support for new Virginia Piedmont tourism district

The Louisa County Board of Supervisors has thrown its support behind a request to the Virginia Tourism Corporation that localities in the Thomas Jefferson Planning District be included in a new region that parallels the borders of an economic development group.

“That would be called the Piedmont region,” said Cindy King, Louisa County’s Community Engagement and Tourism Manager. “Right now, we’re in the Central Virginia region.”

Several localities currently included in the Northern Virginia region would also be added to the new Piedmont Virginia area including Fauquier County and Culpeper County.

“The logic is it really reflects more on how our visitors are traveling between the different counties, because as of right now, the counties that are considered Northern Virginia, they’re not the same as far as economic development as the rest of Northern Virginia,” King said.

King said she would continue to work with counterparts in Hanover County and Goochland County as those localities do share similarities with Louisa.

County Administrator Christian Goodwin said Louisa doesn’t have much of a connection to counties like Nottoway and Dinwiddie that are south of Richmond.

“I would say we just probably have a lot more in common with a Culpepper than we might with one of them, just from a geographical standpoint,” Goodwin said.

The reason for the request now is that the Virginia Tourism Corporation is putting together its statewide plan.

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