[7] The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the City of Charlottesville with Albemarle County for statistical purposes, bringing its population to approximately 160,000.Jefferson's home and primary plantation, Monticello, located 3 miles (5 km) southeast of the city, is, along with the University of Virginia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, each attracting thousands of tourists from across the country every year.[10] The Governor and legislators had to abandon the capitol temporarily and on June 4, 1781, Jack Jouett warned the Virginia Legislature meeting at Monticello of a planned raid by Colonel Banastre Tarleton, allowing a narrow escape.The only battle to take place in Charlottesville was the skirmish at Rio Hill, an encounter in which George Armstrong Custer briefly engaged local Confederate Home Guards before retreating.A year later, the Charlottesville Factory, founded c. 1820–30, was accidentally burnt during General Philip Sheridan's 1865 raid through the Shenandoah Valley.[11] After Reconstruction ended, Charlottesville's African American population suffered under Jim Crow laws that segregated public places and limited opportunity.[15] In August 1950, three white men were observed burning a cross on Cherry Avenue, a street in a mostly African-American neighborhood in Charlottesville.The closures were required by a new series of state laws collectively known as the Stanley Plan, which prohibited and denied funding to integrated public schools.Despite razing this small area comprising about 20 acres abutting West Main Street in the city's commercial downtown area, Charlottesville maintained its vibrant black community spanning the much larger and still extant Ridge Street and Fifeville neighborhoods to the south, and the Tenth & Page and Rose Hill neighborhoods to the north.At this meeting, the group planned their annual "Baskets of Cheer", and hosted a Cabaret Dance on New Year's Eve at Carver Recreation Center, with the Randolph Brothers performing."[31] City attempts to remove statues of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson from downtown parks have been the subject of extensive, unresolved litigation.[42] The first Mass of record in Charlottesville was celebrated in the parlor of F. M. Paoli's residence, presumably on Random Row, now West Main Street.Charlottesville has a four-season humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa), with all months being well-watered, though the period from May to September is the wettest.[60] The city of Charlottesville has an overall crime rate higher than the national average, which tends to be a typical pattern for urban areas of the Southern United States.The city is both the launching pad and home of the Dave Matthews Band as well as the center of a sizable indie music scene.Court Square, just a few blocks from the Downtown Mall, is the original center of Charlottesville and several of the historic buildings there date back to the city's founding in 1762.Its main grounds are located on the west side of Charlottesville, with Thomas Jefferson's Academical Village, known as the Lawn, as the centerpiece.This area is full of college bars, eateries, and University merchandise stores, and is busy with student activity during the school year.West Main Street, running from the Corner to the Downtown Mall, is a commercial district of restaurants, bars, and other businesses.The stadium hosted large musical events, including concerts by the Dave Matthews Band, The Rolling Stones and U2.3 in the AP poll before losing to Tom Izzo's Spartans by two points in the Sweet Sixteen held in Brooklyn, New York.The soccer program is also strong; the Men's team shared a national title with Santa Clara in 1989 and won an unprecedented four consecutive NCAA Division I Championships (1991–1994).Charlottesville High School's boys' soccer team were state champs again in 2019, when it won the VHSL Class 4A Championship.[74] According to the official page the current city council are: Charlottesville is one of the few Democratic bastions in heavily Republican central Virginia.Weekly publications include C-Ville Weekly, which also publishes quarterly, bi-annual, and yearly glossies such as Abode (home, garden, architecture), Knife & Fork (food, drink, restaurants), Unbound, (outdoor sports and recreation, environmental issues), Best of C-VILLE (readers' favorite restaurants, bars, shops, etc.The Amtrak Cardinal runs on the Buckingham Branch east-west single track, which follows U.S. Route 250 from Staunton to a point east of Charlottesville near Cismont, Virginia.[80] Also, the Transdominion Express steering committee has suggested making Charlottesville a stop on the proposed statewide passenger rail line.[81] Since the city's early formation, it has been home to numerous notable individuals, from historic figures Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe, to literary giants Edgar Allan Poe and William Faulkner, to NFL player Ralph Horween.Charlottesville's Albemarle County is or has been the home of movie stars Rob Lowe, Sissy Spacek, Jessica Lange and Sam Shepard, novelist John Grisham, Raymond Austin, television director, writer and novelist, the poet Rita Dove, the Dave Matthews Band, and the pop band Parachute, as well as multi-billionaires John Kluge and Edgar Bronfman Sr.Between 1968 and 1984, Charlottesville was also the home of Anna Anderson, best known for her false claims to be Grand Duchess Anastasia and lone survivor of the 1918 massacre of Nicholas II's royal family.