Buying Land in Page County, Virginia

A rural Valley county built on farming and a major cave system

Page County sits in the Shenandoah Valley, seated in the town of Luray and best known nationally for Luray Caverns, one of the largest and most-visited cave systems on the East Coast, drawing roughly 500,000 visitors a year. With a 2020 Census population of 23,709 spread across roughly 311 square miles, the county remains genuinely rural, and county planning materials describe agriculture and tourism together as its two biggest revenue producers -- a pairing that shapes how the county approaches land-use decisions, since new development is weighed against both farmland preservation and the tourism economy the caverns and the broader Valley setting support.

Zoning: an Agriculture district built around farming and outdoor recreation

Page County's zoning ordinance includes an Agriculture district (Section 125-10) that permits single-family detached dwellings alongside a fairly broad range of commercial-outdoor-recreation uses -- parks, playgrounds, picnic grounds, swimming clubs, country clubs, golf courses and driving ranges, and similar recreational facilities. That breadth reflects the county's tourism-and-agriculture economic mix directly in its zoning code, rather than treating recreation as an afterthought bolted onto a purely farming-focused district. As with any Virginia agricultural district, production farming and forestry are protected by-right under the state Zoning Enabling Act and cannot be subjected to a special-permit requirement -- but the recreational and other non-farm uses listed in Sec. 125-10 come with their own specific lot and site requirements that should be confirmed directly with the Zoning Office for your particular parcel and plan.

Page County has also been engaged in a multi-year effort to revise both its Zoning Ordinance and its Subdivision Ordinance, intended to bring the county's code in line with current Virginia state code, respond to shifts in development patterns and technology, and reflect the county's updated Comprehensive Plan. Stakeholder engagement on this update goes back several years, and it appears (based on county Board of Supervisors meeting materials) to still be an active, ongoing process rather than a settled, finished ordinance. If you are planning a subdivision, a non-farm commercial use, or anything beyond a single-family home on agricultural land, confirm the current, up-to-date ordinance text directly with the county rather than relying on an older printed or downloaded copy.

Septic, well, and tourism-adjacent land uses

Septic and private well permitting in Page County follows Virginia's statewide model -- a Virginia Department of Health local health district, not a county department, reviews the site and issues the construction permit for a typical single-family system. This page was not able to independently confirm this session which specific VDH health district currently serves Page County; confirm that directly with VDH before assuming a specific office or contact.

Given the county's tourism economy, a buyer considering a visitor-facing use -- a short-term rental, a campground, an event venue, an agritourism operation -- should treat the Zoning Office as the first call, since the Agriculture district's recreational-use provisions and the ongoing ordinance update both bear directly on what's currently allowed and what specific site standards apply. Don't assume a use is allowed simply because it fits the general character of a tourism-heavy county; confirm the specific district and current ordinance language for your parcel.