ASHLAND, a town of Hanover Co., Virginia, U.S.A., on a high plateau 15m. N. of Richmond; on the Richmond, Fred ericksburg and Potomac railroad, and connected with Rich mond by an electric line. The population in 1930 was 1,297. Ashland is the seat of Randolph-Macon college, the oldest mem ber of the Randolph-Macon system of colleges and academies, established under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church South to provide secondary and collegiate instruction for both sexes in separate institutions, and owned by one chartered, self perpetuating board of trustees. The college in Ashland is for men, and has an annual enrolment of about 25o. It was chartered in 1830, and opened near the village of Boydton, in Mecklenberg county, in 1832, removing to Ashland in 1868. About 7m. and Ism. respectively from Ashland are the birthplaces of Henry Clay and of Patrick Henry. The town was settled in 1845 and incor porated in 1856. It is at the intersection of the Jefferson Davis and the Thomas Jefferson highways.