Gills, Virginia

Gills is a rural unincorporated community in Amelia County in the U.S. state of Virginia. It is located in Leigh District[2] around the intersections of SR 616 (S. Genito Road) with SR 657 (Selma Road), 1 mile (1.6 km) north of the Nottoway county line. Gills is situated at the highest point in Amelia County, 527 feet (161 m) above sea level, and is also the westernmost extant hamlet in the county. A portion of the segment of U.S. Bicycle Route 1 that runs southwest from Richmond follows SR 616 through Gills.[3]

Gills, Virginia
Unincorporated community
Wheaton Trailhead, Sayler's Creek Battlefield, near Gills
Wheaton Trailhead, Sayler's Creek Battlefield, near Gills
Gills, Virginia is located in Virginia
Gills, Virginia
Gills, Virginia
Location within the Commonwealth of Virginia
Gills, Virginia is located in the United States
Gills, Virginia
Gills, Virginia
Gills, Virginia (the United States)
Coordinates: 37.2935°N 78.1986°W / 37.2935; -78.1986
CountryUnited States
StateVirginia
CountyAmelia
Elevation
527 ft (161 m)
Time zoneUTC−5 (Eastern (EST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC−4 (EDT)
ZIP codes
23083, 23966, 23922
Area code(s)804, 434
FIPS code51/30960[1]
GNIS feature ID1497787

History

The community now noted as Gills has undergone several name changes. It was called New London for a time.[4] An early landmark was Pride's Church, a designator that was used into the middle of the 19th century; John Pride III was a prominent figure in local and state politics in the late 1700s.[5] A village post office noted as "Pride Church" operated briefly in Amelia County in the early 1820s, although it is not certain that it referred to the same community. A post office called "Pride's Church" was established in 1852,[6] at a spot noted on period maps at the location later called Gills.[7]

The church itself was a crude structure that dated back to the 1700s.[4] Nevertheless it hosted several prominent guest preachers: Itinerant revivalist Francis Asbury visited in 1794, one of the first of a number of his ministry endeavors in and around Amelia County;[8] and a sermon described by an eyewitness as "the finest specimen of pulpit oratory he had ever heard" was delivered at Pride's Church in the 1840s by Presbyterian minister, educator, and Confederate chaplain Moses Drury Hoge,[9] a grandson of minister, educator, and abolitionist Moses Hoge.

By the time of the Civil War, the church was missing from most maps, and a "Craddock's Store" appeared at the same location. An "A. Gills" lived on Pride's Church Road[10][11] just east of the site of the church. An establishment called Gill's Mill operated on Sayler's Creek just to the west of Pride's Church;[12] a community dubbed Gill's Store was listed in the late 1800s, receiving mail from the post office in Deatonville,[13] just north of the location of Pride's Church and Craddock's Store. By 1900, a post office was in service using the name Gills.[14] Most of the vicinity of Gills is now assigned to the post office 7 miles east at Jetersville (ZIP code 23083); small portions are served by the post offices in Rice (ZIP code 23966) and Burkeville (ZIP code 23922) in neighboring counties.

Gills lies near the route[15][16] taken by Confederate general Robert E. Lee and his army in their retreat during the final days of the Civil War. Intercepting Federal troops and cavalry moved past Pride's Church itself, as well as Gill's Mill.[12] The two sides met and clashed in their last major battle, April 6, 1865, just over a mile west of modern-day Gills at Sayler's Creek, on the border of Amelia and Prince Edward counties. The surrender to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox took place on April 9. The countryside around the Sayler's Creek battlefield still looks much as it did in the 1860s.[17]

Farmer House, 3 miles (5 km) east of Gills, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.[18]

References
  1. "Gills (Amelia County, VA): FIPS Codes". Roadside Thoughts: A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada, July 7, 2023. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
  2. "General Highway Map, Amelia County, Commonwealth of Virginia". Virginia Department of Transportation, Richmond. Reprinted by Vintage Aerial, Maumee, OH, 1993. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
  3. "Official State Bicycle Map". Bicyling in Virginia, Virginia Department of Transportation. Commonwealth of Virginia: 2018. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
  4. Walter A. Watson. Notes on Southside Virginia, Bulletin of the Virginia State Library, Richmond, September 1925, Volumes 15-16, Nos. 2-4, page 173. Edited by Henry R. McIlwaine. Accessed January 2, 2022.
  5. Pawlett, Miller, & Clark. "Amelia County Road Orders 1735-1753", Virginia Department of Transportation. Charlottesville, VA: Virginia Transportation Research Council, April 2002, page 50. VTRC 02-R14. Accessed July 12, 2023.
  6. Virginius Cornick Hall, Jr. "Virginia Post Offices, 1798–1859", The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 81, no. 1, Virginia Historical Society, January 1973, page 84. Accessed December 31, 2021.
  7. Edward G. Longacre. The Cavalry at Appomattox: A Tactical Study of Mounted Operations During the Civil War's Climactic Campaign, March 27-April 9 1865, page 147. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2003. Accessed December 31, 2021.
  8. The Journal and Letters of Francis Asbury, Volume II, page 24 of pdf. Editor-in-chief Elmer T. Clark, Wesleyan Heritage Publications, 1998. London: Epworth Press; Nashville: Abingdon Press. Original printing 1958. Accessed July 12, 2023.
  9. Peyton Harrison Hoge. Moses Drury Hoge: Life and Letters, pp. 55 and 74. Richmond: Whittet & Shepperson, 1899, for the Presbyterian Committee of Publication. Accessed January 1, 2022.
  10. William L. Booker. "A map of Amelia County, Virginia". Philadelphia: R.L. Barnes, circa 1850. Library of Congress permalink=https://lccn.loc.gov/2014588019. Accessed December 31, 2021.
  11. D. E. Henderson. "Map of Amelia Co., Virginia". Confederate States of America. Army. Department of Northern Virginia. Chief Engineer's Office. 1860. Virginia Historical Society. LCCN Permalink = https://lccn.loc.gov/2012591111. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, December 7, 2021.
  12. "Map 5: Movements to Sayler's Creek", National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form for Sayler's Creek, National Park Service, June 1984. Accessed July 12, 2023.
  13. Rand, McNally & Co.'s Indexed Railroad and County Map of Virginia, page 25. Accessed July 12, 2023.
  14. Henry Gannett. A Gazetteer of Virginia, U.S. Geological Survey, Bulletin No. 232, Series F: Geography, 40, page 64. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1904. Accessed January 1, 2022.
  15. "Lee's Retreat: The Final Campaigns" (map), Civil War Trails, Williamsburg, VA. Accessed January 3, 2022.
  16. "From Richmond and Petersburg to Appomattox" (map), Historic Petersburg Foundation, Inc. Accessed January 3, 2022.
  17. Sayler's Creek Battlefield, National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form, page 2 on pdf. Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Accessed January 3, 2022.
  18. 004-0043 Farmer House. Amelia County, VLR Online & National Register Listings. Historic Registers. Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Accessed January 3, 2022.

U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Gills, Virginia

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