The Old Appomattox Court House is a former county court house within the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park., has an extensive bibliography which lists manuscript collections, private papers and letters that were consulted, as well as, newspapers, government documents, and other published monographs that were used in his research of Appomattox. In the 1800s this structure gave the surrounding village the name Appomattox Court House. The 1865 surrender of the

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 ...

on April 9 at the nearby McLean House by General Robert E. Lee to General

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 ...

commenced the

conclusion of the American Civil War The conclusion of the American Civil War commenced with the articles of surrender agreement of the Army of Northern Virginia on April 9, at Appomattox Court House, by General Robert E. Lee and concluded with the surrender of the '' Shenand ...

that finalized with the surrender of the '' Shenandoah'' on November 6, 1865. The court house was registered in the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propert ...

's database of Official Structures on June 26, 1989. It is located on

Virginia State Route 24 State Route 24 (SR 24) is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of Virginia. The state highway runs from U.S. Route 221 (US 221) and SR 116 in Roanoke east to US 60 in Mt. Rush. SR 24 connects Roanoke with several small communities in ...

, three miles (5 km) northeast of the town of Appomattox in

Appomattox County, Virginia Appomattox County is a United States county located in the Piedmont region and near the center of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is part of the Lynchburg, VA Metropolitan Statistical Area, and its county seat is the town of Appom ...

, where the "new" Appomattox Court House is located.

History

The original old Appomattox Court House was the first county seat of Appomattox County, Virginia. It was built in 1846, one year after Appomattox County was established, at what was known then as Clover Hill, Virginia. It was the second government public structure built after Appomattox County was formed. It was in the center of the village on a large green lot surrounded by the Richmond-Lynchburg stage road. The first building constructed after the county became official was the original wooden county jail built in 1845. The original courthouse was built across the street from the Clover Hill Tavern in 1846. This original courthouse building burned down in 1892. A second courthouse was constructed in 1892, which is near the location of the

Appomattox Station Appomattox Station was located in the town of Appomattox, Virginia (at the time, known as, West Appomattox) and was the site of the Battle of Appomattox Station on the day before General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Li ...

in the town of Appomattox, Virginia. The reconstructed old Appomattox Court House is now the visitor center for the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park. On the first floor is the information desk. On the second floor is a museum and the auditorium. An interpretive video presents the events of General Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia's surrender to

Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Grant. Civil War weapons are on display, as are many photographs relating to the event. The old Appomattox Court House was reconstructed in 1963 and 1964 as the park's visitor center and information desk for the

Historical significance

The original county court house played no role in the surrender of General Robert E. Lee to General Ulysses S. Grant, as it was

Palm Sunday Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in each of the four canonical Gospels. Palm Sunday marks the first day of Hol ...

and the court was closed for the day. The actual surrender took place at the McLean House. The National Park Service states that the Old Appomattox Court House is of paramount importance by virtue of its association with the site. It is vital under certain criteria of the National Park Service and by virtue of its creation of the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park by federal law. It represents the participation of the federal government in the preservation and commemoration of historically significant events related to the conclusion of the American Civil War.

Description

The reconstructed Old Appomattox Court House is a two-story structure of running bond brick with a raised second floor main entry. There is a second story east and west entry porch. The building has

newel A newel, also called a central pole or support column, is the central supporting pillar of a staircase. It can also refer to an upright post that supports and/or terminates the handrail of a stair banister (the "newel post"). In stairs having st ...

posts and balusters. The four-panel entry doors on the main level are flanked by 12/12 double hanging

sash windows A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels, or "sashes". The individual sashes are traditionally paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double glazing) of glass. History T ...

. The size of the structure is wide by deep. It has three bays with a hipped flat-seam roof with wood

trusses A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as beams, connected by ''nodes'', that creates a rigid structure. In engineering, a truss is a structure that "consists of two-force members only, where the members are organized so that the assembla ...

. The rebuilt edifice has a brick paved first floor beneath the second floor hipped-roof porch with brick cast stone steps and cast iron railings. The lower level has a similar layout with a smaller four-panel door flanked by 8/8 double hanging sash windows. The end elevations have two internal chimneys flanked by 8/8 double hanging sash windows on the first floor with three 8/8 double hanging sash windows on the second level. There is a third sash window located in the center. All the windows of the "court house" have shutters. and an
one photo, undated, at Virginia DHR
!---Note Federal text version at is incomplete: does not include Section 11 or maps--->

Footnotes

Sources

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History

Historical significance

Description

Footnotes

Sources

Further reading