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For the unincorporated community in Caroline County, see New London, Caroline County, Virginia.

New London was an incorporated town in what is now Campbell County, Virginia. It was the former county seat of Bedford County, Virginia before Campbell was split from it in 1781. The town was founded around 1750. It was home to the New London Academy. The town declined following the rise of Lynchburg  and the exodus of several merchants who sided with the British government in the American Revolution.

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Significant Regional Hiſtory

- Colonial Hiſtory

- Revolutionary War Period Hiſtory

- Pre-Civil War Hiſtory

- Civil War Hiſtory

- Military Hiſtory

- Contemporary Hiſtory

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African American Hiſtory

- Colonial Hiſtory

- Antebellum and Civil War Periods of Hiſtory

- Post-Civil War Hiſtory

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Early History and Founding
In 1753, the Assembly of Bedford County received a proposition by an influential Virginian plantation owner named William Callaway to build a new town for the county on his land. While this initial plan was not accepted by the Assembly, Callaway donated one hundred acres of his local rural properties for the new town to be erected upon in 1754. He did not own the town and its lands as he wished. However, if the new settlement should grow and prosper, Callaway's other local properties would rise in value. This personally benefited both Callaway and other locals who would engage in business in the new township. Over the following few months, Callaway had a wooden prison and courthouse built on the site. Upon the building's completion in November, New London's plan was laid down. At the time, Bedford county was on the western frontier of Virginia, having no major settlements or governing townships to economically center itself upon. After being laid out, New London was established as the county seat for Bedford County. In 1757, three years later, Callaway transferred the deed of the town's land to the township. Four years later, the township of New London was made official.

During the following years, the town steadily grew in regional influence and economic projection. This was due to the Assembly's policies, which were designed to foster economic growth. The Assembly divided the original one hundred acres into half acre plots to be sold and developed by to-be owners. On every plot, the owner would have to construct a twenty-by-sixteen foot cabin within one year of the plot's purchase, and add a brick chimney within four. New London also came to prosper due to its economically superior location, as it was founded upon a well-traveled intersection of the Great Wagon and Wilderness roads. These trails were busy routes for both foot and wagon traffic departing the British-American Colonies for the frontier regions of the Appalachian Mountains and beyond, as well as inter-colony trade and migration. However, in 1781, Bedford County was bisected, and from the selected Southeastern territories Campbell County was created. Being caught on Campbell County's side of the border, New London was stripped of its position as Bedford county seat. The new seat of Campbell County was granted to Rustburg, and the county seat of Bedford was yielded to the town of Liberty, now having been renamed as Bedford.

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