Fluvanna County takes its name from an eighteenth-century designation of the upper James River. The name, meaning river of Anne, was originally bestowed in honor of Queen Anne of England. The county was formed from Albemarle County in 1777. The county seat is Palmyra.

In 1780 the Virginia General Assembly replaced the Anglican vestries and churchwardens of the colonial period with elected bodies called Overseers of the Poor. The Overseers provided food, clothing, shelter, and medical treatment for the persons who were too poor to support themselves or too ill to provide for their basic needs. They also bound out children whose parents could not support them or who failed to educate or instruct them, as well as orphans to become apprentices. The boys learned a trade and the girls learned domestic skills.