From Clover Hill to Appomattox Court House

An 1800s photograph of the village as you enter the village with the McClean House on the right side with two people walking towards the village

Appomattox Court House NHP acquisition number APCO 11549 museum photograph.

The small village of Appomattox Court House began its relatively short life under a different name, Clover Hill. Taking its name from the Clover Hill Tavern, the community initially served as a stopping point along the Richmond – Lynchburg Stage Road. In 1845, the Virginia legislature authorized the creation of Appomattox County out of several surrounding counties. As the geographic center of the new county, Clover Hill was designated as the seat of government and re-named Appomattox Court House. Over the next few years, a courthouse building and county jail were constructed in the center of the village, located just a few hundred yards from the headwaters of the Appomattox River.

By the mid 1850’s, Appomattox Court House had reached the peak of its size and prosperity. Two taverns, two general stores, several law offices, and numerous private homes dotted the landscape, as did one wheelwright and three blacksmith shops. Altogether, the village was populated by fewer than 150 residents, compared with almost 9,000 people living in the surrounding county, over half of them enslaved. From the construction of buildings to the maintenance of the stage road and the growing of crops, nearly every aspect of life in the village and county was touched by the institution of slavery.

The eventual demise of the village was not due to the Civil War but to the coming the South Side Railroad, connecting Petersburg and Lynchburg, in 1854. Unfortunately for Appomattox Court House, the rails ran three miles to the southwest at Appomattox Station, bypassing the village and ensuring its downfall. The decline was apparent in 1865; by the 1880’s many of the village’s residents had relocated to the railhead. The final blow was the destruction of the courthouse by fire in 1892. The new county seat would simply be called Appomattox, and it would stand by the rails. Many of the remaining buildings in the village were ultimately abandoned. The park was established in 1940 and most of the surviving structures were restored to their 1865 appearance.