Tag: Hanover Courthouse VA

Wikipedia says: Hanover is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Hanover County, Virginia, United States. It is the county seat and is located at the junction of U.S. Route 301 and State Route 54 south of the Pamunkey River. While historically known as Hanover Courthouse, the U.S. Geological Survey, Census Bureau, Postal Service and residents refer to it as “Hanover”.

Its most notable structure is the Hanover County Courthouse, designated a National Historic Landmark. The attorney Patrick Henry practiced law here and argued the Parson’s Cause. It is within the Hanover County Courthouse Historic District, which includes the Hanover Tavern. Rebuilt in 1791 on the site of a Revolutionary-era tavern, the tavern was adapted in 1953 as the Barksdale Theatre, the nation’s first dinner theatre. Barksdale was Virginia’s first performing arts organization to seat integrated audiences.[citation needed] St. Paul’s Episcopal Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.

The Hanover County Courthouse is an operating courthouse. Located along U.S. Route 301, it is across the green from the Hanover Tavern. The courthouse is the third oldest courthouse still in use in the United States. Some local historians cited the courthouse as built in 1735, but the state historical society notes it was built between 1737 and 1742.

Battle of Hanover Court House

The Battle of Hanover Court House, also known as the Battle of Slash Church, took place on May 27, 1862, in Hanover County, Virginia, as part of the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War.

On May 27, elements of Brig. Gen. Fitz John Porter’s V Corps extended north to protect the right flank of Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan’s Union Army of the Potomac. Porter’s objective was to deal with a Confederate force near Hanover Court House, which threatened the avenue of approach for Union reinforcements that were marching south from Fredericksburg. The smaller Confederate force, under Colonel Lawrence O’Bryan Branch, was defeated at Peake’s Crossing after a disorganized fight. The Union victory was moot, however, for the Union reinforcements were recalled to Fredericksburg upon word of Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks’s rout in the Shenandoah Valley at First Winchester.