Welcome to Dorchester ...

Dorchester is located in Wise County<1>.

The location of Dorchester has been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (ie- the GNIS).<2>

While we don't have a date for the founding of Dorchester, you might consider that their post office opened  in 1895.

Dorchester is 2,010 feet [613 m] above sea level.<3>.

Time Zone: Dorchester lies in the Eastern Time Zone (EST/EDT) and observes daylight saving time

Dorchester is within the (276) area code.

Communities Also Named Dorchester ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are two Virginia communities named Dorchester: This one is located in Wise County and the other is located in Richmond City.

Beyond Virginia, there are 20 communities that are also named Dorchester - they are located in Colorado, Florida, Georgia (2), Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ontario, South Carolina (2), Texas and Wisconsin.

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Dorchester.

Communities near Dorchester ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Dorchester.

• Big Stone Gap
  (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Stone Gap
  • Big Stone Gap is located in Wise County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,104 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Big Stone Gap <4>
• Wise
  (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wise
  • Wise is located in Wise County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,885 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wise <4>
• Jenkins
  (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jenkins
  • Jenkins is located in Letcher County (KY)
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,895 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Jenkins <4>
• Cumberland
  (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cumberland have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cumberland
  • Cumberland is located in Harlan County (KY)
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,854 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cumberland <4>
• Coeburn
  (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coeburn
  • Coeburn is located in Wise County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,835 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Coeburn <4>
• Whitesburg
  (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Whitesburg have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whitesburg
  • Whitesburg is located in Letcher County (KY)
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,813 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Whitesburg <4>
• Appalachia
  (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Appalachia
  • Appalachia is located in Wise County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,523 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Appalachia <4>
• Clintwood
  (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clintwood
  • Clintwood is located in Dickenson County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,264 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Clintwood <4>
• Pound
  (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pound
  • Pound is located in Wise County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 917 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Pound <4>
• Saint Paul
  (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint Paul have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Paul
  • Saint Paul is located in Wise County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 847 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Saint Paul <4>

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Dorchester. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Dorchester.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Dorchester. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Dorchester.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Dorchester. See our Newspapers Page for Dorchester.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Dorchester ...

Looking for more information about Dorchester? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

While we are unaware of a Tourism page that is specific to Dorchester, there are neighboring communities that do have Tourism pages. A map of those communities can be found with our TripAdvisor Page for Dorchester.

Adding Dorchester to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Dorchester in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for Dorchester was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<5>

From that list, the Dorchester post office opened in 1895.

For more details, see References and Mentions for Dorchester.

Off-the-Road Links ...

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Dorchester. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Wise County: www.wisecounty.org/

The official website for State of Virginia: https://www.virginia.gov/