Amelia Court House Map
Amelia Court House is a census-designated place (CDP) in and the county seat of Amelia County, Virginia, United States. The population as of the 2010 Census was 1,099. Amelia Court House is also known as Amelia Courthouse and Amelia. The Amelia area is known for its supply of minerals, including the nation's best source of Amazonite found at the Morefield mine.
Amelia Court House is located on one of the principal Confederate railroads of the 1860s. After General Robert E. Lee retreated from Petersburg, in 1865, he spent April 4 and 5 in Amelia Court House waiting for supplies from Richmond. Those supplies never came; instead a train came through carrying government documents. Lee had been to Amelia prior to the Civil War to stay, with his family, at the spas located in the county. The last major engagement of Lee's army with Union forces occurred April 6, 1865 just on the border of Amelia County in a place called Sayler's Creek. Lee would surrender in Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.
Amelia's court clerks' offices still contain records prior to the Civil War, unlike other unfortunate courthouses. The Union forces were in such a hurry to catch up to Lee's Army of Northern Virginia that they did not take the time to ensure that the office would burn. The iron shutters and brick construction meant that torches lit to destroy the building went out without causing damage to the building's contents.
Nearby cities include Crewe, Burkeville, Cumberland, Blackstone.