THE CLARKE COUNTY LAND BRIEF
Land in the
Northern Limestone/Dolomite Valleys setting.
Clarke County has 176 square miles of land in Virginia. 4 mapped landscape regions meet across Clarke County: Northern Limestone/Dolomite Valleys, Northern Sedimentary and Metasedimentary Ridges, Northern Igneous Ridges, among others.
Long, roughly parallel ridges and valleys follow folded and faulted rock layers. Limestone valleys, sandstone ridges and other geologic contrasts produce varied terrain and numerous regional springs and caves.
Regional context: Ridge and Valley ↗ · Regional mapping across the county footprint
Where the landscape changes
Clarke County intersects 4 mapped regional units. The largest mapped shares are:
- Northern Limestone/Dolomite Valleys75.3%
- Northern Sedimentary and Metasedimentary Ridges12.7%
- Northern Igneous Ridges10.1%
- Northern Shale Valleys1.8%
Blue Ridge in Clarke County
Forested ridges, plateaus and high mountains extend through the Blue Ridge. Elevation, rainfall and sheltered coves create marked differences in forest communities across short distances.
Read the regional source ↗Finding your parcel within Clarke County
The atlas lists 4 cities, towns, townships, and Census communities associated with Clarke County, including Shenandoah Farms, Berryville, Shenandoah Retreat. The list includes overlapping geography types and does not divide the county into exclusive service areas.
Clarke County by land and water
The Census records 2.2 square miles of water within Clarke County, or 1.2% of its total area. That share is close to Clarke County’s 1.2%. This is geographic context; waterfront status and usable land must be checked at the parcel.
For scale, Clarke County has 71.1 times the land area of nearby Berryville town (2.48 square miles). These areas describe boundaries, not comparable property prices.
The Census boundary meets Fauquier County, Frederick County, Loudoun County, Warren County within Virginia. A tract near one of these lines should be matched to the county identifier on its own records.

