Pendleton County was created from parts of Campbell and Bracken counties in 1798. The county was named after Edmund Pendleton who was a longtime member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, the Continental Congress and a former chief justice of Virginia. Falmouth, the future (and current) county seat originally began as a settlement called Forks of Licking in 1776. With a total population count of 14, 877, the county has a total area of 282 square miles.