About

Amelia County founded in 1734, home of Colonel Thomas Tabb, richest merchant in colonial Virginia, and other pre-Revolutionary large landowners, supplied militiamen and military wherewithal for both the French and Indian War and the American Revolution. The county contained a mix of Patriots and Loyalists. Comprising after 1754 both Raleigh and Nottoway Parishes (the latter today’s Nottoway County), its early economic development rested on enslaved labor that by 1860 (along with Nottoway and Lunenburg Counties) was the heart of Virginia slavery. Local colonial sites include Egglestetton, Haw Branch and Wigwam plantation homes, Clay Hill cemetery, the original Grub Hill Church site, and routes/rendezvous points for both Tarleton’s British raiders and local Continentals and militia men.

The Amelia committee is coordinating with its Nottoway counterparts on commemorative activities. The committee includes largely grassroots/amateur volunteer historians engaged in period academic research, but seeks also to erect local signage on key Revolutionary sites and personages. It will coordinate educational activities with the Hamner Public Library and local schools. Amelia Co. contains three museum: the Jackson Memorial Library & Museum of the Amelia County Historical Society; the Russel Grove Association Museum on the Civil Rights Education Trail; and Sailors Creek Historical Battlefield and State Park (VDCR) [for the Civil War]. Our first AmRev250 event was a lecture by local historian Greg Eanes (Hampden-Sidney College, Lecturer) on his monograph, “Amelia Militia at the Battle of Guilford Court House,” in Dec 2022. We currently are assisting the Richmond Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution for the dedication of a plaque at the grave of Major Joseph Eggleston Jr., officer of Lee’s Legion in the Revolutionary War, at Grub Hill Episcopal Church (a National and State historic landmark), on November 5, 2023. Christ Episcopal Church and Amelia County Historical Society are also involved.

Local substantive publishing in 2023 will offer a very general Amelia County history from 1607-1773, and focus on Southside and county events from 1765 (Stamp Act) to the disbandment of the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1773 (including Amelia legislators John Tabb and John Winn). The committee will compile a comprehensive bibliography of its research efforts. It has begun inquiry with the Amelia County Developer on tourism potentials, an area of nascent involvement for county officials. In that regard we are observing the activities of our Nottoway counterparts.

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