HISTORIC Visiting Hanover County Visitor centers located in Ashland and at the Cold Harbor battlefield, eight miles east of Mechanicsville, are open year round. The visitor’s center at Bass Pro Shops in Winding HANOVER Brook is open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. These centers are staffed to provide assistance with orientation and trip planning. In the spring and summer months special events like Civil War encampments and National Park COUNTY WelcomeWelcome toto Service ranger guided tours help to make Hanover’s history come alive. HanHanoverover County

95 New York ust a few miles north of Philadelphia Richmond lies Hanover Washington, D.C. 64 Hanover County, a special place steeped in a long County Jand colorful history. This guide is designed Norfolk to help visitors experience the people, places Roanoke Virginia Beach

and, events in Hanover County that helped to 95 shape Virginia—and America. Charlotte Throughout the county, dozens of state historic markers and numerous historic sites have For more information been preserved to tell the If there is time to plan ahead consult the following web sites for information on special itineraries and stories of the earliest Native events that will help make a visit to Hanover and American inhabitants, the rich the Richmond Region even more rewarding. colonial history, the struggle Civil War for religious freedom, and the www.civilwartraveler.com www.nps.gov/rich fight for independence from the British crown. Visitor Information Three National Park sites and two county parks www.visit.richmond.com • 1-888-RICHMOND commemorate battles of the Civil War. Choose www.co.hanover.va.us one or sample them all. Hanover has something for the casual visitor or the most serious student of American history. Continued on back cover Foundations of Liberty

undreds of years before the English set foot in what is now In the late 1730’s Hanover County became Virginia, indigenous people of the a center of a powerful religious movement HChickahominy, , and Totopotomoy tribes inhabited this place and the rivers and called the “Great Awakening.” other natural landmarks now honor their names. Jamestown brought English explorers to the region including Capt. John Smith of an established, state church. All other reli- The Reverend whose capture by the great Chief gions and religious denominations, except for Samuel Davies, a newly in Hanover led to his legendary escape led the Church of England, were discouraged, ordained 23-year-old by Pocahontas. suppressed, and harassed. Pressure from Presbyterian preacher ar- Hanover County, chartered in 1720, quickly Hanover Dissenters forced the Governor’s rived from Pennsylvania in became well populated and emerged as a Council in Williamsburg to license four 1747 to minister to these fledgling bustling center of commerce and trade, “reading houses” in 1743. Three of these congregations. Davies became the first non- particularly tobacco. Local farmers used slave places of worship were located Anglican minister licensed to preach in labor to plant, harvest, and transport this king in Hanover. Virginia. During his 12 year tenure, crop to port at Hanovertown on the Davies led the pioneering effort to for shipment around the educate the black slave, recruit world. Evidence of this prosperity can be soldiers for Governor Dinwiddie seen by driving along Hanover’s country to fight the French and Indian roads and witnessing many of the grand War, and minister to a young plantation homes built during the 18th and Patrick Henry and his mother at the 19th centuries. Polegreen (www.historicpolegreen.org) Hanover also proved to be fertile ground for meeting house. It has been said he had no cultivating an emerging nation’s revolutionary peer in the pulpit in the Colonies. Before his spirit. In the late 1730’s Hanover County death Henry credited Davies with “teaching became a center of a powerful religious Left: Jefferson’s Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. Above: movement called the “Great Awakening.” Samuel Davies Above Right: The site of Polegreen church is cel- This movement challenged traditional notions ebrated by a frame reconstruction and historic markers. Foundations of Liberty me what an orator should be.” By 1800, subjects. He asserted that by interfering Baptists, Methodists, and Quakers worshipped with a law passed by the Virginia House of in Hanover. Burgesses the King was behaving as a tyrant Most Americans cherish our first freedoms, and had sacrificed his right to the obedience but it is likely that few are familiar with the of the people in this case. Ironically, the case events in Hanover that secured this right by involved the salaries of clergymen of the influencing Virginia’s government to adopt Church of England. The case would come to be known as “The Before his death Henry credited Parsons’ Cause”. Later Henry became Above: A young Patrick Henry argues the Parson’s Cause a part of freedom case. www.parsonscause.com Left: A young Patrick Henry. Below: Henry Clay. Davies with “teaching me what lovers worldwide with his thunderous an orator should be.” words “Give me Hanover was spared much of the direct Liberty or Give action of the Revolutionary War until after the Statute of Religious Freedom in 1786. me Death” at Yorktown when American and French armies This landmark law became the inspiration for St. John’s returned. George Washington passed by the First Amendment to the Church minutes Hanover Courthouse at this time. Constitution forever establishing the free from Hanover. Another famous exercise of religion. This successful struggle The County is the Hanover native, Henry for liberty, in the form of religious toleration, repository of the greatest collection of Clay moved to began four decades earlier in Hanover County. Henry related sites in Virginia including his Kentucky in 1785. Hanover County’s famous son Patrick Henry birthplace Studley, his boyhood church Clay’s reputation fired his first oratorical shot of the coming Polegreen, his wedding site Rural Plains, his grew as one of the political and military disturbance known as the honeymoon cottage Pine Slash, and his adult best orators in American Revolution at Historic Hanover home Scotchtown, where he lived at the time American history as Courthouse in December 1763. Henry, a of his famous call to liberty. You can visit well as the father of young lawyer, argued that government was a these sites on the Road to Revolution at compromises which postponed the start conditional compact between the king and his www.roadtorevolution.org. of the by decades. The Civil War

hen civil war came front lines. Union raiders often at- to America in 1861, tacked those tempting targets, burned Wgeography ensured key bridges, and damaged that Hanover County would see sections of track. a prominent role in the conflict. Major campaigns in 1862 and Most of the county lay within 20 1864 devastated the county. George miles of Richmond, and just 75 miles McClellan led a large against south of Washington, D.C. Northern armies, anxious to strike at the capital city of the Confederacy, repeatedly crossed through “The battles they Hanover and fought many battles on its soil. Above: The site of one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, Gaines’ Mill, is managed by the National Park Service. Two railroads bisected the county in the fought made the 1860s. The Virginia Central Railroad and the Hanover, Grant narrowly escaped a disastrous Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Rail- old county famous defeat at the , only to suffer road were vital components of the Confederate a serious setback at Cold Harbor in June. supply system. They brought supplies from again, but at a These battles changed Hanover County northern and western Virginia, and transported and the lives of its inhabitants in a way none troops back and forth between the city and the heavy cost.” could have imagined. The county numbered 8,600 citizens when the war began. Just two Richmond in the spring of 1862. This period years later, combined armies of nearly of the war, known as the Seven Days 200,000 occupied the county. When the Campaign, included the Battle of armies returned in 1864, they Beaverdam Creek and the Battle brought at least 150,000 men. The of Gaines’ Mill in Hanover. battles they fought made the old Gaines’ Mill was one of the war’s county famous again, but at a bloodiest contests. In 1864, Gen- heavy cost. # Top: Enon Church, site of one of the fiercest calvary battles eral Ulysses Grant led the Northern of the Civil War. Above: Gaines’ Mill, a unit of Richmond Na- army in its second major drive against tional Battlefield Park, still sees its share of action today. Above: The Watt house stands as the centerpiece to The 5th New York Zouaves performing bayonet drill. Richmond. Maneuvering through upper the 1862 battle of Gaines’ Mill. D

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R O A D Situated along the Virginia Central Railroad, the depot Courthouse Complex This site was the center of the struggle for religious Hanover County has many sites associated with the was destroyed by Union raiders early in the The historic courthouse (c.1735) along with the and civil liberty in the middle of the 18th century in Civil War. Most of the major battlefields can be found Civil War. It was quickly rebuilt, but was destroyed Virginia. The Hanover dissenters, under the leadership by following two driving trails established by Virginia’s BEAVER DAM tavern, and early 19th century jail and clerk’s office, BEAVERSCHOOL ROAD and reconstructed several more times during the war. of Presbyterian Minister Samuel Davies, challenged the Civil War Trails program: the 1862 Peninsula Campaign LAKE served as the political and judicial center for the DRIVE The present structure was built in 1866. Ongoing established Anglican Church sponsored by the Colonial and Lee vs. Grant 1864. Maps and information can be TYLER STATION ROAD county. Here Patrick Henry successfully argued the OLD STAGE COACH DRIVE restoration is taking place. famous “Parson’s Cause” case against the Crown in government. Patrick Henry worshiped here throughout obtained by calling 1-888-CIVIL WAR or by visiting TEMAN ROAD this adolescence, and years later said, “Davies taught me www.civilwartraveler.com. Both of these trails are HEWLETT ROAD 1763, and on the eve of the Revolution, citizens of Church Quarter the county assembled inside the courthouse to adopt what an orator should be.” The church was destroyed by indicated on the map by a red dashed line. The sites Despite its name, Church Quarter was built in 1843 as the “Hanover Resolutions.” The courthouse is open Confederate artillery fire in 1864 and was never rebuilt. are identified with gold stars. a residence. It survives as the best-preserved antebellum by appointment. 804-537-5815. www.historicpolegreen.org Major sites along the trails include: LITTLE RIVER TRINITY log dwelling in the region. Stonewall Jackson reportedly

BEAVERDAM ROAD S R CHURCH PARSON OAD stopped here for water during his march to join Rural Plains LITTLE RIVER LOCUST Robert E. Lee prior to the Hanover Junction –Doswell North Anna Battlefield CREEK Dating from about 1723, the house stayed continuously HEWLETT ROAD 1862 Seven Days Battles. Once known as Hanover Junction, this village today Between May 23 and May 26, 1864, approximately NORTH ANNA in the Shelton family for more than 275 years. Virginia PARSONS ROAD BATTLEFIELD 130,000 Union and Confederate soldiers occupied COUNTY PARK Site is open daily; tours is called Doswell. In this tiny hamlet the tracks of

WASHINGTON HIG patriot and politician Patrick Henry reportedly married VERDON by appointment only. two important railroads intersect: the Richmond, fortifications along the North Anna River. The heaviest

D D OL RIDGE RO Sarah Shelton in its parlor in 1754. 110 years later it lay A AD ROAD O R 804-883-5411 or Fredericksburg, and Potomac and Virginia Central fighting occurred on the first two days. On May 27, N E in the center of the U. S. Army’s position during the H S

O Scotchtown HWAY the armies left the area on their march toward Cold G 804-798-5887. Railroads. During the famous Civil War campaigns Battle of Totopotomoy Creek. It survived that action, MILL ROAD of 1862-1864, Robert E. Lee’s army relied on these Harbor. A self-guided walking tour of the Ox Ford M despite being riddled with Confederate artillery fire. The OUN T H D OP portion of the battlefield includes some of the best- A E

O railroads for supplies. Just to the east was the Doswell

NEWFOUND RIVER E ROAD R house and 124 surrounding acres now are preserved by

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O R Richmond National Battlefield Park. 804-226-1981 or C G DOSWELL FORK H COATESVILL www.co.hanover.va.us/parksrec/ R Virginia was located. General stores and other busi- CHURCH O A www.nps.gov/rich D CHISWELL LANE Hanover Sycamore NEWFOUND RIVER EXIT 98 nesses including an antique shop known today as NEWFOUND RIVER DOSWELL Junction Gaines’ Mill Battlefield Tavern DOSWELL ROAD “Squashapenny” sprang up in this community. SCOTCHTOWN ROAD Scotchtown Here on June 27, 1862, the largest battle of the ROCKETS MILL ROAD LITTLE RIVER NEEDSTAND CREEK COATESVILLE ROAD (c.1720) By Charles Chiswell, the house and 960 acres famous 1862 Seven Days Campaign took place. That 1 Hanover Tavern R were purchased by Patrick Henry in 1771. From here afternoon General Robert E. Lee’s Confederate army O BE RT T (c.1733) Home to Patrick Henry (owned by his in-laws) ER CAMPBELL R LAKE ROAD he rode to St. John’s Church in Richmond where he repeatedly assaulted a smaller Union force that was LL ROAD E ilroad LL RO TOWER ROAD AD Church when he argued the Parson’s Case in 1763. The existing gave his “Liberty or Death” speech. Also served as stretched along a two-mile front. This second battle BLUNTS BRIDGE ROAD LITTLE RIVER structure dates to 1791 with a major addition in 1823. WOODMANSYCAMORE HA TAVERN Quarter childhood home of Dolley Madison. The home is of the Seven Days Campaign provided General Lee CEDAR & MONTPELIER otomac Ra 95 HISTORIC DISTRICT CREEK Come discover the Tavern as an historic site, a restaurant owned and operated by APVA Preservation Virginia. his first victory as commander of the Army of Northern QUAKER MEETING CHURCH ROAD HOUSE SCOTCHTOWN ROAD W. and a dinner theater. Open for tours Monday-Saturday, PA and is furnished with a spectacular collection of period Virginia. The combined casualties for both armies SITE TRICK HENRY ROAD D A 11am-3pm. 804-537-5050. www.hanovertavern.org. O antiques. Open April through October. (Admission numbered more than 15,000. Walking trails provide R GR H E C EN R W Michelle’s at Hanover Tavern is open Tuesday-Sunday D U OO charged) Monday, Thursday-Saturday 10am-4:30pm a self-guided tour of the battlefield. 804-226-1981. A H D C O C HU R R redericksburg & P T Y C N N H for lunch, brunch on weekends O A R STAGG CREEK Sunday 1:30pm-4:30pm. 804-227-3500. www.nps.gov/rich EM H O Z T AD LA E C B and dinner. HICKORY HILL ROAD SOUTH ANNA RIVER S ROAD ’ Richmond F Beaverdam Creek Battlefield

Y Slash Church BLUNT POOR On June 26, 1862, General Robert E. Lee initiated the

Y FARM (c.1729) Slash Church survives as the oldest and COUNTY PAMUNKEY RIVER RING ROAD Seven Days Campaign by crossing the Chickahominy PARK best-preserved frame church in Virginia. Originally an HICKORY H WINSTON ROAD ILL ROAD River with a large portion of his army. That afternoon

WASHINGTON HIGHWA ST. PAULS Episcopal Church, the Reverend Patrick Henry, uncle THOMPSON STREET D Hanover County he struck the Federals who were located behind Beaver A DRIV EPISCOPAL O TOWN OF E AM R H of the famous patriot, served as rector here from 1737 EXIT 92A CK CHURCH N I Courthouse Complex O ASHLAND W Dam Creek. Although Lee’s army suffered five times the T ASHLAND/ N

G A until 1777. Its congregation included Patrick Henry, D R L A HANOVER

E B O EN casualties of the Union army, the Federals abandoned ROAD W MOUNT R O AD H O O A ON D ENGLAND STREET Dolley Madison, and Henry Clay. Since 1842 the R N T C CK HENRY O G H RI V N U T I their position during the night and retreated eastward R A E R C HERMON ROAD R H P R . C A church has been home to the Disciples of Christ. E F R O

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WASHINGTON HIGHWA ANN A R toward Gaines’ Mill. A walking trail encompasses both

D T H During the Civil War, Confederate troops bivouacked O A RIVER Hanover U ELMONT ROAD ELMONT S Union and Confederate positions. 804-226-1981.

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R Tavern A HOWARDS MILL ASHCAKE JENNINGS ROAD D D www.nps.gov/rich 1 A M O O R U Battle of Hanover Courthouse. Y N y O T a R H E E w RIVER H R l RIVER ROAD AND ROAD C M i EEK L O a PAMUNKEY AS N A R S

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O a C r A A t K D n E e Sycamore Tavern Union infantry and cavalry passed through this hamlet STONES HORSE CR R C O a A ni D gi POUNCY TRACT ir (c.1732) Sycamore Tavern was the fourth on their way toward Cold Harbor in 1864. At the time C GREENWOOD RO V A A U F HENRY STREET NELSON’S T HERMON H MOUNT O N. JAMES STREET CROSSING stagecoach stop on the Richmond- a few scattered buildings comprised the community R ROAD . EXIT 89 ROAD N RD PEAKS ROAD E AD N 1 OW LEWISTOWN RD. ENGLAND STREET R IST O CEDAR LANE LEW A Charlottesville Road. The tavern hosted including several residences and a tavern that served E D 301 ASHLAND ROAD EGYPT C WASHINGTON HIGHW VILLE ROAD HANOVER TOWN travelers throughout the 19th century. as headquarters for the Union cavalry corps. The tavern 95 ROAD T. WILLIAMS ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE D W GREENWOOD ROAD The well preserved building houses the stands largely unchanged from its wartime appearance. IN N AY S CHURCH ROA D D OA IGHW R GEORGETO Page Memorial Library of History and The church that gave the community its name was long S. JAMES STREET L IL H AY G IN WN ROAD S. CENTER S D Genealogy. Open Wednesday, Friday and gone by 1861, but just to the east stands Immanuel LI B S

ER HILL ROAD ASHINGTON H Slash MOLLY Saturday. Church, which was converted into a Union hospital LANE SUMM RIVER OLD W Church 804-883-5355 during the Cold Harbor campaign. SALEM PAMUNKEY PRESBYTERIAN Map Key E K CHURCH AD PI EXIT 86 N O N

E ROAD CHAMBERLAYNE R R W N U A W T ATLEE/ELMONT S O E H T LL Enon Church C I N A PATRICK HENRY R SV Civil War Sites KE ROAD TOTOPOTOMOY E IC N RURAL V N TOTOPOTOMOY CREEK A POINT RO BIRTHPLACE O H CREEK N EC On May 28, 1864, Union and Confederate forces clashed A M Downtown Ashland AD H Highlighted Points ENON CHURCH around Enon Church in one of the fiercest cav- Points of Interest Rural STUDLEY ROAD of Interest 360 PAMUNKEY RIVER alry battles of the Civil War. The seven- A Randolph Macon College Plains PINE SLASH hour battle, known as Haw’s Shop, erupt- Points of Interest B South Center Street Historic District Polegreen ed when horsemen from both armies Road to Revolution IMMANUEL collided while on reconnaissance in front K 295 Church E EPISCOPAL E C Railroad Avenue Historic District MECHANICSVILLE TURNPIKEOLD CHURCH PIPING TREE F R ERRY ROAD C CHURCH R Historic Sites E of the main armies. After a brief fight on RETRE P P A L IMMANUEL TRAIL C LANEAT FA D Hanover Arts & Activity Center BEATTIE horseback, Confederate cavalry fell back west Virginia Civil War Trail EXIT 41 RM WEST POND ’ E Ashland Theater CHAMBERLAYNE RD. S MILL of the church and built fortifications to with- EXIT 38 36TH WISCONSIN Washington-Rochambeau ROAD stand the Union assaults. The sides battled POLE GREEN RD. POLEGREEN ROAD INFANTRY MONUMENT MATADEQ F Ashland Train Depot/Visitor’s Center UIN C EK R return route RE EE indecisively for several hours before the arrival OAD C K BELL CREEK ROAD IN QU OLD CHURCH ROAD DE MCCLELL TA MA FLANNIGAN'S of General George Custer’s Union brigade BETHESDA CHURCH MILL K AN ROAD E MEADOWBRIDGE R E R MATA turned the stalemate into victory. The fighting April, 1781 C DEQUIN C ATL YS REEK LE EE ROAD TURNPIKE S American and British troops (Marquis de Lafayette, D AR BEULAH A P resulted in nearly 800 combined casualties. O Significant Dates in Hanover History R 1779 Lord Cornwallis) moved through Hanover toward MECHANICSVILLE PRESBYTERIAN L L I Hanovertown is Yorktown as Revolution heads to final days 1836 WALNUT CHURCH H FLANNIGAN 360 N D W GROUP OA O Virginia Central Railroad R B R narrowly defeated Y E C NUT GROVE ROAD LE U Cold Harbor Battlefield CHURCH L L EXIT 37 WAL VA A MILL ROAD in vote for state October, 1781 joins RF&P at Y H D C MECHANICSVILLE/ AN H S U Union and Confederate forces collided at the cross- C 173 6 capital Victory at Yorktown Hanover Junction D COLD HARBOR R O TAPPAHANNOCK C A L H D O CEMETERY Patrick Henry is born in Studley HA R RBO RO

R N roads known as Cold Harbor on May 31, 1864. Within ROAD AD O 1777 November, 1781 1834 T COLD HARBO H IG Cold Harbor RE hours thousands of troops began to converge on the 1720 176 3 Henry Clay Continental army marches Richmond, Fredericksburg 1863 C COLD HARBOR Hanover County Patrick Henry wins is born at north through Hanover with and Potomac railroad Union cavalry raids along BEAVERDAM R ROAD BATTLEFIELD Visitor Center CREEK BATTLEFIELD area, constructing fortifications that stretched for more is established Parson’s Cause case Clay Springs British prisoners from Yorktown built through Hanover Hanover railroads R OCKH ILL EXIT 34 RO than seven miles. On June 3, Union forces under A D CREIGHTON RD. WATT HOUSE General Ulysses S. Grant attempted to break through ROAD 1600s 1700s 1800s the Confederate defenses in one of the most memorable

1607 1747 177 5 179 9 1845-55 1861 1868 GAINES’ MILL GARTHWRIGHT HOUSE AND John Smith captured Samuel Davies Patrick Henry’s “Give Patrick Henry Dies Town of Ashland Civil War Randolph Macon College moves to Ashland BATTLEFIELD HANOVER COUNTY CIVIL WAR PARK frontal assaults of the war. These futile attacks produced by Hanover tribes and established Presbyterian Me Liberty or Give at Red Hill Plantation formed from Slash begins thousands of casualties. The armies remained in posi- taken to Manatowick Church at Polegreen Me Death” speech at Cottage Resort 1865

(aka Powhatan) St. John’s Church Civil War ends U NTER L tion until June 12, when Grant secretly moved his men X H AN (Richmond) July, 1782 1862 FO E south and east toward Petersburg. Walking trails and a The French Expeditionary Force and Jeb Stuart’s ride 1864 May, 1775 Count de Rochambeau marched through around the Union army, Battles of North Anna, Totopotomoy Creek, visitor center with exhibits are available. 804-226-1981. Patrick Henry and his Independent Hanover on their way to Boston and home the Seven Days battles and Cold Harbor; Dahlgren’s US Cavalry raid www.nps.gov/rich Company of Hanover march toward Williamsburg to demand return of Virginia’s gunpowder seized by Crown forces