Celebration Facts for the 250th Anniversary
Welcome to Celebration Facts for the 250th Anniversary of Botetourt County by Cathy Benson, Editor of The Botetourt Bee, your digital online community news. In agreement with the 250th Anniversary committee, the facts are shared with the print readers of The Fincastle Herald. These facts will sometimes be historic and sometimes trivia and some times just for entertainment.
Our county is named after Lord Botetourt, Norborne Berkeley, the 4th Baron Botetourt who lived from 1718 – 1770. He was governor of the Colony of Virginia from 1768 to 1770.
I have met him twice in front of his mansion in Williamsburg on visits to Colonial Williamsburg. Yes, there is an actor dressed up portraying Lord Botetourt from time to time. He is a chatty fellow.
The title is currently in abatement meaning it is no longer in use.
Norborne Berkley was a bachelor and left a monetary sum to the College of William and Mary to be given as an award to two successful students. After 1775 that did not occur for over 150 years. Since 1941, a student is given this prestigious Botetourt award yearly.
Here in our county one of two prestigious high schools is named after him. Lord Botetourt opened in 1959. The other high school is named after King James of England (via the River named after him) and also opened in 1959.
The first Baron, John de Botetourt b. in 1265 may have been the illegitimate son of Edward the I, King of England, but his father is listed as Guy de Botetourt. John was an admiral of the Navy. You may have surmised they carry a French surname. The first de Botetourt’s came with William the Conqueror to England in 1066 from Normandy, France —Sources Wikipedia and Burke’s Peerage.
–Cathy Benson, The Botetourt Bee, Heraldry is courtesy of the BOS meeting Jan. 28
