Appomattox County, Virginia represents one of two places, including Yorktown, Virginia where major wars ended on American soil. In Yorktown, the Revolutionary War was considered, for all intents and purposes, won by the thirteen colonies against Britain. In Appomattox Court House, the War Between the States, or the Civil War, ended when General Lee signed surrender papers in the presence of General Grant on April 9, 1865.
But, Appomattox holds a longer history, one that was created well before Captain Newport or Captain John Smith visited the area. Originally inhabited by Native Americans, this area of the country along the James River was known, originally, as “Apamatuc.” Through various evolutions in spelling and pronunciation, the name finally reached the present form of Appomattox.
When the courthouse burned in 1892, the county seat was moved three miles southwest to its present site on the Norfolk and Western Railway in present-day Appomattox. The depot today is the Visitor’s Center, and many of the buildings that visitors see today were built when the county seat was re-established. In the meantime, Appomattox Village dwindled, and it almost became forgotten.
But, in 1935, an Act of Congress provided for its restoration, and Appomattox Court House and surrounding areas were recreated to their Civil War approximations through the development of a National Park. Among the objectives of this park were to commemorate the peace cemented there, to honor those who fought that war, and to restore the village to appear as closely as it did on the day of surrender.
The Park comprises about one-thousand acres, including a fifty-acre lake formed by building a dam in the ford of the Appomattox River, which flows through the area. In the relocation of the highway, travelers may drive over the same road that Lee’s soldiers followed in their efforts to reach Lynchburg. Back then, it was a narrow red clay road. Today, this road is a two-lane highway.
If you’ve never visited Appomattox, we hope that this site will provide a window into the area’s historic appeal. You will discover artifacts, places of interest and stories about people who strive to keep that history as palpable as possible.
