Maplewood is a mostly rural

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in southwest central

Amelia County Amelia County is a county located just southwest of Richmond in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. The county is located in Central Virginia and is included in the Greater Richmond Region. Its county seat is Amelia Court House. Ameli ...

in the U.S. state of

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 ...

. It is located at the intersection of SR 640/ SR 697 (Maplewood Road, a short loop segment of old US 360) and SR 640 (Buckskin Creek Road), just off the four-lane current . Maplewood straddles the border between ZIP codes 23002 ( Amelia Court House, 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 ...

, 4 miles northeast) and 23083 ( Jetersville). The nearest volunteer fire station is Amelia County Volunteer

Fire Department A fire department (American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and fire suppression se ...

Co. 3, at Jetersville, just over 2 miles southwest. At the turn of the 20th century, Maplewood was a

post village A postal village or post-village (p.v., P.V., PV or p-v) is generally a settlement that has a post office. Definition and abbreviation In North American usage, the term "post village" refers to a small community (a village) which has a post office. ...

and a freight station (Milepost 40.0) on what was then the Southern Railway, originally the Richmond and Danville Railroad. The railroad track is still used by freight trains; it parallels Maplewood Road and is now owned by the

Norfolk Southern Railway The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31 ...

History

Civil War

Maplewood lies along the route followed by

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

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 Nort ...

and his army in their retreat during the final days of the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, a phase known as the Appomattox campaign. Numerous roadside historical marker signs have been erected along the route, including an official one on modern-day US 360 at Maplewood that reads as follows: The last major battle fought by Lee's army occurred a few miles west at Sayler's Creek, on the border of Amelia and Prince Edward counties, on April 6, just before the surrender to

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...

at Appomattox on April 9.

Tornadoes

Amelia County is located in a small Central Virginia

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...

alley and has had numerous tornado touchdowns. Tornadoes of note include the twister of April 30, 1924, which killed one person and injured seven others. Traveling from Jetersville to Chula, it destroyed seven homes in Maplewood and then passed east of the courthouse area.

Landfill

In 1993, despite legal action by local residents, the Maplewood Recycling and Waste Disposal Facility opened, replacing the previous county-operated landfill. With entrance from Maplewood Road west of Buckskin Creek Road, the complex currently covers a total area of , more than a square mile, and is owned and operated by Waste Management of Virginia, Inc. In the aftermath of the 2014 coal-ash spill in Eden, North Carolina, in which some 39,000 tons of waste flowed into the

Dan River The Dan River flows in the U.S. states of North Carolina and Virginia. It rises in Patrick County, Virginia, and crosses the state border into Stokes County, North Carolina. It then flows into Rockingham County. From there it flows back int ...

Duke Energy Duke Energy Corporation is an American electric power and natural gas holding company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. Overview Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Duke Energy owns 58,200 megawatts of base-load and peak generation in ...

shipped 750 tons of the remaining

coal ash Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when de ...

via rail from its containment pond at the

Dan River Steam Station The Dan River Steam Station is a power plant in Eden, North Carolina, owned by Duke Energy. The plant comprises three natural gas-fueled combustion turbines, which began operation in 1968.), and two natural gas-fueled combined cycle turbines ar ...

in Eden to the Maplewood facility.

References

* {{authority control Unincorporated communities in Virginia Unincorporated communities in Amelia County, Virginia