BEDFORD, a town of Virginia, 25m. S.W. of Lynchburg, on the Norfolk and Western Railroad; the county seat of Bed ford county. The population in 193o was 3,713. It lies nearly I,000ft. above sea-level, and the view to the N. and W. is bound ed by the Blue Ridge ; it is the railway station for the Peaks of Otter. Hydroelectric power is supplied from a municipal plant on the James river, built in 1911. The principal manufactures are tin cans (125,000,00o annually), woollens, automobile tyres and tubes, packers' labels, paint pigments, and locust pins used on telephone poles and in ship-building. Bedford is an important tobacco market. Tomatoes and other vegetables are canned in large quantities in the adjacent country. The national home of the Order of Elks, and one of the schools of the Randolph Macon system (see ASHLAND, Va.) are located here. The town was established and made the county seat by an Act of the State legislature in 1782.