Brookneal is an incorporated town in Campbell County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,112 as of the 2010 census. It is part of the Lynchburg Metropolitan Statistical Area.HistoryOn January 14, 1802, "Brooke Neal" was established by the Commonwealth of Virginia in Chapter 65 of the Acts of Assembly. It was named after John Brooke and his wife, Sarah (née Neal) Brooke, who established a tobacco warehouse which became known as "Brooke's Warehouse". It was located near the boat landing and ferry crossing on the Staunton River.The "Town of Brookneal" was incorporated and a charter issued in 1908. Later to become the smallest incorporated town in the Central Virginia region, Brookneal served as the closest center of commerce for portions of Campbell, Charlotte, and Halifax counties. As transportation modes developed, Brookneal's location offered proximity to waterways, roads and railroads.From the earliest days of settlement of the area by Europeans in the Colony of Virginia, through the Revolutionary War era, and extending through most of the first half of the 19th century in Virginia, waterways were a major transportation resource for commerce. Roads were primitive and poorly maintained. Upstream from the fall line, which marked the western reaches of the coastal plain of Virginia (and adjacent areas of North Carolina), canals and other improvements were constructed to aid navigation upriver by batteaux and other watercraft. In the later 19th century, railroads supplanted river transportation in the Piedmont region east of the mountains.
