Nelson County, VA Elevation & Topographic Map
Elevation
4,070 ft 1,240 m3,120 ft 950 m2,650 ft 810 m1,710 ft 520 m770 ft 235 m290 ft 90 m
Contours every 500 ft, bold every 2,500 ft
USGS 3DEP · U.S. Census Bureau
How to use this mapviews, tools and data
- Elevation
- Ground colored by height from green (lowest) to white (highest), with contour lines every 40–500 ft (USGS data).
- Satellite
- A 2016 satellite photo at 33 ft (10 m) detail; contours off.
- 3D
- Tilt and turn the terrain; hills are raised 1.5×, or set ×1 for true height.
- Click or tap anywhere
- The exact elevation of that spot in ft and m.
- Measure
- Pick two points for the climb, descent and grade along a straight line.
- County area
- Fades everything outside the official county boundary (US Census).
Elevation Data
Nelson County averages about 1,110 ft (340 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 290 ft on the east side to 4,070 ft on The Priest.
Average elevation
1,110 ft 340 m
all land inside the county
Highest
4,070 ft 1,240 m
on The Priest
Lowest
290 ft 90 m
on the east side
Nelson County spans about 3,780 ft of height, so no single spot tells the whole story. The ruler shows where most of its land lies, and where the other numbers you'll see come from.
| Figure | Elevation |
|---|---|
| Average of all land | 1,110 ft340 m |
| Highest point Inside the county, on The Priest (3DEP terrain model; no NGS survey height) | 4,070 ft1,240 m |
| Lowest point Inside the county, on the east side | 290 ft90 m |
Elevation profile, west to east
22 mi west to east through Nellysford.
Topographic Map
- Location
- County in Virginia, United States
- Population
- 14,766 2024 est.
- Land area
- 470.7 sq mi + 3.5 sq mi water
- Density
- 31 per sq mi
- Time zone
- Eastern UTC−5 / −4
- Landform regions
- Piedmont 52%, Blue Ridge 48%
- Drains to
- Atlantic Ocean
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Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, USGS
Nearby Places
Neighboring counties sharing a border, by average
- Augusta County1,890 ft
- Rockbridge County1,620 ft
- Amherst County1,130 ft
- Nelson County1,110 ft
- Albemarle County750 ft
- Appomattox County670 ft
- Buckingham County490 ft
Rankings by average elevation
- Counties in Virginia33rd highest of 94
- Counties in the United States1,227th highest of 3,151
Peaks and hills highest inside
- The Priest4,070 ft
- Maintop Mountain4,040 ft
- Elk Pond Mountain4,030 ft
- Chimney Rock3,950 ft
- Devils Knob3,850 ft
All 7 towns in Nelson County by typical elevation
- Wintergreen3,130 ft
- Afton1,140 ft
- Lovingston820 ft
- Nellysford750 ft
- Arrington700 ft
- Shipman650 ft
- Schuyler490 ft
How we measure
- Average: every USGS 3DEP bare-earth cell of land inside the Census county boundary (TIGER/Line, Jan 1 2026), weighted equally, on a 1 arc-second (≈100 ft, 30 m) grid. Land means the boundary minus Census area water.
- Highest and lowest: the highest land cell; it is a named summit, so its height is the peak method: the 3DEP top on a ~7 ft (2 m) window, or the NGS published height when a survey mark sits within 160 ft (50 m) of it. Lowest: the lowest land cell; coastal ground within 3 ft (1 m) of named tidal water counts as sea level.
- Nearby Places: neighboring counties and rankings use each one's average elevation, on its own grid, the same figure its page shows. Peaks and hills: the highest summits inside the county with at least 980 ft (300 m) of prominence, then the highest federal (GNIS) summits inside it when there are fewer than 5; each is the 3DEP top on a ~7 ft (2 m) window, or the NGS published height when a usable survey mark sits within 160 ft (50 m) of it (shown as published).
- Towns: each town's typical elevation (population-weighted median of its own 2020 blocks at 1 arc-second); a town is listed when any of its 2020 residents live in the county.
- Rounding: computed heights are rounded to 10 ft (5 m), or to 1 ft (1 m) under 100 ft; 3DEP is good to about a meter, not a foot. Published figures (NGS survey heights) are shown as their publisher gives them.
- Datum: North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88). NGS plans to replace NAVD 88 with a new datum (NAPGD2022); heights will then shift slightly.
- Sources: USGS 3DEP, GNIS, Watershed Boundary Dataset and physiographic provinces; U.S. Census Bureau (TIGER boundaries and water, 2020 blocks, 2024 population estimates, county adjacency); NOAA NGS survey heights; BTS time zones. All public domain.