Amelia Court House (also known as Amelia Courthouse and Amelia) is the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

of Amelia County in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

and a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, such ...

(CDP). The population as of the 2010 census was 1,099. The town was named for

Princess Amelia of Great Britain Princess Amelia Sophia Eleonore of Great Britain (10 June 1711 ( Old Style and New Style dates, New Style) – 31 October 1786) was the second daughter of King George II of Great Britain and Queen Caroline. Early life Princess Amelia was born ...

, the daughter of

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

's King George II, in 1735.

History

Amelia Court House was founded in a rural area of the

Virginia Piedmont The Piedmont region of Virginia is a part of the greater Piedmont physiographic region which stretches from the falls of the Potomac, Rappahannock, and James Rivers to the Blue Ridge Mountains. The region runs across the middle of the state from ...

developed for plantations of mixed crops. In the 19th century, spas were developed around nearby mineral springs, which served as vacation destinations for travelers. Visitors arrived by railroad after one was built to serve the area. Among the planters who came to the spas with their families was Robert E. Lee, the future Confederate general. By the 1860s, the village was served by the

Richmond and Danville Railroad The Richmond and Danville Railroad (R&D) Company was a railroad that operated independently from 1847 until 1894, first in the U.S. state of Virginia, and later on of track in nine states. Chartered on March 9, 1847, the railroad completed its ...

(later the Southern Railway). The R&D was a crucial supply line for the Confederacy during the Civil War. After

General Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, towards the end of which he was appointed the overall commander of the Confederate States Army. He led the Army of North ...

retreated from Petersburg in 1865, he spent April 4 and 5 in Amelia Court House waiting for desperately needed supplies from

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

. Those supplies never arrived. Instead, a train came through carrying government documents. The last major engagement of Lee's army with Union forces occurred April 6, 1865, on the border of Amelia County at the

Battle of Sayler's Creek The Battle of Sailor's Creek was fought on April 6, 1865, near Farmville, Virginia, as part of the Appomattox Campaign, near the end of the American Civil War. It was the last major engagement between the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, c ...

. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. The offices of Amelia's court clerks contain records dating before the Civil War, unlike many other Virginia courthouses, which lost such records in wartime destruction. The Union forces were rushing to catch up to Lee's

Army of Northern Virginia The Army of Northern Virginia was the primary military force of the Confederate States of America in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was also the primary command structure of the Department of Northern Virginia. It was most oft ...

and did not ensure that the courthouse records were burned. The iron shutters and brick construction of the courthouse protected its contents . In the 20th century, the area was still known for the

amazonite Amazonite, also known as Amazonstone, is a green tectosilicate mineral, a variety of the potassium feldspar called microcline. Its chemical formula is KAlSi3O8, which is polymorphic to orthoclase. Its name is taken from that of the Amazon River, ...

produced at the Morefield Mine. Amazonite is a crystallized stone, a green variety of

microcline Microcline (KAlSi3O8) is an important igneous rock-forming tectosilicate mineral. It is a potassium-rich alkali feldspar. Microcline typically contains minor amounts of sodium. It is common in granite and pegmatites. Microcline forms during slow ...

feldspar Feldspars are a group of rock-forming aluminium tectosilicate minerals, also containing other cations such as sodium, calcium, potassium, or barium. The most common members of the feldspar group are the ''plagioclase'' (sodium-calcium) feldsp ...

. A countywide festival called Amelia Day is held each May on the Saturday before Mother's Day. The festival started in the 1980s to celebrate the town's founding. Vendors, local clubs, and citizens organize to enjoy music, dancing, and socializing. At the first Amelia Day, residents signed a long roll that, along with other items, was put in a time capsule and buried in the courthouse green near the Confederate War Memorial.

Tornadoes

In 2003, Amelia Day was cancelled after the courthouse green was struck by an F1 tornado on Friday, May 8, the day before the festival. The tornado destroyed most of the trees on the green. A small Virginia tornado alley exists in Central Virginia, and Amelia County has had numerous tornado touchdowns. Tornadoes of note include the April 30, 1924, tornado that passed east of the courthouse area, traveling from Jetersville to Chula, killing one person and injuring seven others. A tornado hit Amelia County on October 13, 1983, one of a family of tornadoes that affected much of Central and Northern Virginia. Other strong tornadoes have affected the county, especially to the east.

Transportation

Business Routes

State Routes

(Five Forks Rd., N. Five Forks Rd., and Virginia, Court, Washington, & Church Streets)

Climate

The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

system, Amelia Courthouse has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps.

Points of Interest

* Rennie Memorial Presbyterian Church, a congregation

Notable people

Toby Wing Toby Wing (born Martha Virginia Wing, July 14, 1915 – March 22, 2001), "Toby" being an old family nickname, was an American actress and showgirl, once called "the most beautiful chorus girl in Hollywood". Early years Wing was born in Ame ...

, early 20th century actress, was born in Amelia Court House.

References

External links

Official Amelia County, Virginia, government website
{{authority control Census-designated places in Amelia County, Virginia Census-designated places in Virginia County seats in Virginia