Appomattox Court House Map (click to enlarge)
Appomattox Court House—which is the name of the town, not an actual courthouse building—was the county seat of Appomattox County up until 1892 when the courthouse building burned down. The town had been an important stop on the Richmond-Lynchburg Stage Road, but stage coach travel had declined drastically by the 1890s due to the convenience of train travel. Since a new courthouse was now needed, the citizens voted to move the county seat two miles west to Appomattox Station where the railroad junction was located. This facilitated the slow death of Appomattox Court House as the people and businesses began moving away.
The Department of Defense, which oversaw all national battlefield parks at the time, looked into preserving the town for historical purposes, though other than installing metal informational signs in front of the most important buildings, nothing was done. The National Park Service began seriously looking at acquiring the town in the 1930s, but by then half of the original buildings were gone, and only a half dozen or so residents remained. Appomattox Court House National Historical Park was officially created in 1940.
When looking at the Appomattox Court House town map on the park brochure, there appears to be dozens of buildings to visit. However, this map shows both existing and non-existing buildings. The existing buildings are identified by name; the buildings that no longer exist are identified by number. All buildings standing today are original except for the courthouse and the McLean House, both of which are reconstructions.
For those who want to see all of the buildings at Appomattox Court House, there is no set tour route through the town. You must often double back to see everything, and a few of the buildings are isolated and quite far from the town center. I ended up walking about 1.5 miles and spent three hours exploring the town, but that entailed photographing all buildings and talking with a few Rangers I met along the way. The typical tourist should allow at least an hour to walk the grounds.
See the following web pages for information and photos of each building at Appomattox Court House. Buildings that are open to the public are marked with an *.
Appomattox County Courthouse (Visitor Center)*
Clover Hill Tavern and Kitchen Building*
With a few exceptions, use of any photograph on the National Park Planner website requires a paid Royalty Free Editorial Use License or Commercial Use License. See the Photo Usage page for details.
Last updated on June 23, 2023
