Powhatan Courthouse

Powhatan Courthouse is a Virginia historical marker in Powhatan County, dedicated 2000.

Rte. 13, at Powhatan

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The first courthouse was built here about 1783 and around it grew the village of Scottville. Named for Revolutionary War Gen. Charles Scott, who was born in the area, the town eventually became known as Powhatan Court House. The present courthouse was designed by Alexander Jackson Davis, of New York, and built in 1849. It is a masterpiece of Greek Revival architecture. The oldest building in the court square is the clerk's office built about 1798 and nearby is a late-18th-century double-galleried courthouse tavern. Part of the Confederate army, retreating from Richmond, passed here on 4 Apr. 1865.

Maps this old were drawn largely by eye, so places on them can sit miles from where they really are. The pin is ours and marks the marker's location today.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library

Historical maps covering this location

1755 · Virginie, Maryland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1781 · MARCH of the ARMY under Lieut:t General EARL CORNWALLIS in VIRGINIA, from the JUNCTION at… (Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library)
1784 · A map of the United States of N. America (Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library)
1794 · Virginia, Maryland and Delaware. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1818 · Map of Virginia, 1818 (lower right sheet) (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

Virginia, Maryland and Delaware, 1794, covering the location of Powhatan Courthouse, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Virginia, Maryland and Delaware, 1794, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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What that marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years there.

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Marker program managed by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.

More markers nearby

On the National Register nearby

Powhatan Courthouse Historic District40 ft

Places within about 300 feet of this marker that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A nearby listing is not always the marker's own subject.