Welcome to Rural Retreat ...

The town of Rural Retreat is located in Wythe County<1>.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Rural Retreat, you might consider that their post office opened  in 1833.

From the  Census Estimates for 2019, Rural Retreat has a population of 1,448 people<2> (see below for details).

Rural Retreat is 2,570 feet [783 m] above sea level.<3> In other words, the altitude of Rural Retreat is about ½ mile above sea level.

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

The telephone area code for Rural Retreat: (276)

The ZIP code for Rural Retreat: 24368<4>

Websites for Rural Retreat ...

Official Website: www.townofruralretreat.com/

Population Details ...

Taken from the 2019 Census Estimates, Rural Retreat had an population of 1,448 people. This is a decrease of 2.36% since the 2010 Census (or an increase of 7.26% since the 2000 Census).

At the time of the 2010 Census, Rural Retreat had a population of 1,483 people (or 5.07% of the total population of Wythe County). This makes Rural Retreat the county's 2nd most populous community.

The population of Rural Retreat represents 0.02% of the population of Virginia (which has 8,001,024 people), making it the state's 114th most populous community.

With a 2010 count of 1,483 people, the population of Rural Retreat increased 9.85% from the 2000 Census (with a count of 1,350 people).

More information can be found on the Census Page for Rural Retreat.

Communities near Rural Retreat ...

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

• Wytheville
  (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wytheville
  • Wytheville is located in Wythe County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 7,879 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wytheville <5>
• Marion
  (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Marion have been provided by the GNIS.<6> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marion
  • Marion is located in Smyth County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,555 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Marion <5>
• Independence
  (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Independence have been provided by the GNIS.<6> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Independence
  • Independence is located in Grayson County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 887 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Independence <5>
• Trout Dale
  (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trout Dale
  • Trout Dale is located in Grayson County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 165 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Trout Dale <5>
• Crockett
  (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crockett
  • Crockett is located in Wythe County
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Crockett <5>
• Speedwell
  (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Speedwell
  • Speedwell is located in Wythe County
• Atkins
  (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Atkins have been provided by the GNIS.<6> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Atkins
  • Atkins is located in Smyth County
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Atkins <5>
• Mount Carmel
  (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Carmel
  • Mount Carmel is located in Smyth County
• Sugar Grove
  (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sugar Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<6> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugar Grove
  • Sugar Grove is located in Smyth County
• Elk Creek
  (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elk Creek
  • Elk Creek is located in Grayson County
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Elk Creek <5>

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 Rural Retreat. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Rural Retreat.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Rural Retreat. 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 Rural Retreat.

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

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Rural Retreat ...

Looking for more information about Rural Retreat? 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.

In addition to the Tourism page for Rural Retreat, there are neighboring communities that also have Tourism pages. More information about those communities can be found on our TripAdvisor Page for Rural Retreat.

Adding Rural Retreat to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Rural Retreat 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 Rural Retreat was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<7>

From that list, the Rural Retreat post office opened in 1833.

We also found Rural Retreat in the book titled U.S. Post Offices (Oct. 1846).

For more details, see References and Mentions for Rural Retreat.

Off-the-Road Links ...

The official website for Rural Retreat: www.townofruralretreat.com/

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