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Barboursville is one of the anchors of the Madison-Barbour Rural Historic District (National Register of Historic Places), which Virginia's Department of Historic Resources calls "one of Virginia's most intact cultural landscapes". In this area lie some of Orange County's most popular tourist attractions, Barboursville Vineyards (site of the ruins of the Barbour mansion, designed by Thomas Jefferson, home of Governor James Barbour), the Horton Winery and the Nichols Gallery. Barboursville is also home to the Four County Players, central Virginia's longest running community theater. At the other end of the district lies Montpelier, home of James Madison.

Barboursville is a small community, but it is the linchpin of a historically, culturally and economically important region of Virginia. The ruins of Governor James Barbour's mansion recall the long history of interconnection between Montpelier, Barboursville and Monticello, home of President Thomas Jefferson. The Barbour mansion and nearby plantations like Burlington and Campbellton still coexist with traditionally African- American communties like Careytown, settled by former slaves freed from these plantations after the Civil War. As the largest producer of grapes in Virginia, Orange county is an important contributor to the state's economy. Barboursville is home to the two largest grape producers in the county, which collectively produce 1/6 of all the grapes grown in Virginia.

Friends of Barboursville, Inc. (FOB) is a non-profit corporation founded to educate the public about the importance of Barboursville and to preserve this community as one of our state's valuable historic and environmental treasures.