Paineville, Virginia

Paineville is a rural unincorporated community in western Amelia County in the U.S. state of Virginia. It is located in Leigh District[1] around the intersections of SR 616 (S. Genito Road) with SR 644 (Fowlkes Bridge Road / Rocky Ford Road). Paineville straddles the border of ZIP codes 23002 (Amelia Court House) and 23083 (Jetersville). The community has its own fire station, Amelia County Volunteer Fire Department Company 5. A portion of the segment of U.S. Bicycle Route 1 that runs southwest from Richmond follows SR 616 through Paineville.[2]

Paineville, Virginia
Former country store in Paineville
Former country store in Paineville
Paineville, Virginia is located in Virginia
Paineville, Virginia
Paineville, Virginia
Location within the Commonwealth of Virginia
Paineville, Virginia is located in the United States
Paineville, Virginia
Paineville, Virginia
Paineville, Virginia (the United States)
Coordinates: 37°23′15″N 78°07′13″W
CountryUnited States
StateVirginia
CountyAmelia
Elevation
453 ft (138 m)
Time zoneUTC−5 (Eastern (EST))
  Summer (DST)UTC−4 (EDT)
ZIP codes
23002, 23083
Area code804
GNIS feature ID1477604

History

Paineville was among the first towns in Amelia to get its own post office; as early as 1803, a "Painville" in Amelia County appeared on the official "List of Post-Offices in the United States" published by the Post Office Department.[3][4] The town was commonly noted as "Painesville" in 19th-century sources. The branch there has since closed.

On April 5, 1865, during the final days of the Civil War, as General Robert E. Lee and his army continued their westward retreat, Union troops attacked and destroyed a Confederate wagon train near Paineville.[5] The engagement was one of the few, if not the only one, to involve Black Confederate troops,[6] and was among a number of skirmishes in the last week before the surrender to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.

In the 1960s, after desegregation, the property of historic Paineville School, on Route 616, was put up for auction along with several other small schoolhouses in Amelia County.[7] Although all the properties advertised were of similar description and most were Rosenwald Schools,[8] it is unclear whether Paineville School was itself a Rosenwald. During the early 20th century, the Rosenwald School project constructed thousands of facilities across the South primarily for the education of African American children. As of 2023 the original Paineville structure was still intact, serving as an outbuilding for an adjacent house, and the property was again listed for sale.

References

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

  1. "General Highway Map, Amelia County, Commonwealth of Virginia". Virginia Department of Transportation, Richmond. Reprinted by Vintage Aerial, Maumee, OH, 1993. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
  2. "Official State Bicycle Map". Bicyling in Virginia, Virginia Department of Transportation. Commonwealth of Virginia: 2018. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
  3. Virginius Cornick Hall, Jr. "Virginia Post Offices, 1798–1859", The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 81, no. 1, January 1973, page 82. Virginia Historical Society. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  4. "List of Post-Offices in the United States", United States Official Postal Guide, page 27. Washington: Post Office Department, 1803. The Thomas Jefferson Papers at the Library of Congress, Series 7: Miscellaneous Bound Volumes (9). Accessed December 29, 2021.
  5. "From Richmond and Petersburg to Appomattox" (map), Historic Petersburg Foundation, Inc., Petersburg, Virginia. Accessed November 28, 2021.
  6. Robert M. Dunkerly. To the Bitter End: Appomattox, Bennett Place, and the Surrenders of the Confederacy, page 10. Philadelphia: Casemate Publishers, 2015. Accessed December 1, 2021.
  7. "Auction Sale: Surplus School Property In Amelia County, Va.", Classified advertisements, The Farmville Herald, Volume 77, Number 50, 17 March 1967, page 8C. Accessed at the Virginia Chronicle, Library of Virginia, November 18, 2021.
  8. National Register of Historic Places Multiple-Property Documentation Form, Rosenwald Schools, pages 79ff. Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Retrieved December 12, 2021.


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