New County Jail
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New County Jail
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The "new" county jail at Clover Hill
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| Location | Appomattox County, Virginia |
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| Nearest city | Appomattox, Virginia |
| Built | 1860 |
| Visitation | 185,443 (2009) |
| Part of | Appomattox Court House National Historical Park (#66000827) |
| Added to NRHP | October 15, 1966 |
The New County Jail is a structure within the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park. It was registered in the National Park Service's database of Official Structures on June 26, 1989.
In the early sixteen hundreds, Captain John Smith explored the territory of Virginia under the sponsorship of the Virginia Company of London to colonize it for profits. In 1612, Smith made a map of what he had found. In his detailed map he showed the area including rivers and mountains. He also included settlements of the many tribes of Indians. Smith showed a tributary off the James River where there was an Indian Village that was called "Appamatuck". The tributary river joining the James River near this village was named after the Appamatuck Indians. There were many spelling variations for Appamatuck over the next two hundred years and it eventually developed for the English settlers into "Appomattox".
The need for localized service set about the formation of a new county by an act that was passed on February 8, 1845. It came from parts of Prince Edward, Buckingham, Charlotte and Campbell counties. The new "Appomattox County" seat was put at Clover Hill because it was centrally located along the Richmond-Lynchburg stagecoach road. Most of the new county came from Prince Edward County. There was already a stagecoach stop at Clover Hill, the new county seat hamlet which was high overlooking the Appomattox River. After officially made the courthouse seat and the name changed to "Appomattox Court House" in 1845 there was a surge of activity in real estate. Lots changed hands several times in land speculation in anticipation of new public buildings. The first building constructed was a county jail in 1845, a log structure. Then came a new courthouse across the stagecoach road west in 1846. During the American Civil War the original log jail burned down around 1867. It was replaced in 1870 with the present three story brick jail, the New County Jail, which was already started in construction in 1860.
The New County Jail represents the participation of the federal government in the preservation and commemoration of historically significant events. It also has distinctive characteristics as an example of embodying a type, period, and method of construction in the 1870s in rural Virginia. It is noted both as a county government seat and of a farming community in Piedmont Virginia in the nineteenth century.
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