 The population was 3,255 at the time of the 2010 census, down from 3,612 at the 2000 census.The area was part of the grant in the early 1700s to the family of John Preston's wife, born Elizabeth Patton, which he administered on her behalf.The grant was intended to permit British colonization beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains, but subsequent French and Indian resistance and a reversal of British policy limited its impact.