Free Union is a census-designated place in Albemarle County, Virginia, United States, ten miles north-northwest of Charlottesville. The population as of the 2010 Census was 193. It is a very small hamlet consisting of a private school, a doctor's office, a post office, a country store, a homebuilder, and several dozen homes. Otherwise it is entirely rural in character. A few miles north of this hamlet is a winery.The area was first settled in the mid-18th century and became a part of Albemarle County in 1761. The village was originally referred to as Nicksville after a free slave blacksmith named Nick, who opened a blacksmith's shop there in the early 19th century. When a post office was established in 1847, it was given the name of Free Union to avoid confusion with Nixville, another post office in the county. The name was taken from that of the Free Union Church, which had been built in 1837 and is still operating as the Free Union Baptist Church.