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275th Anniversary Celebrated with House Tour
In celebration of
Two houses are listed on the National Registry of Historical Homes.
Pre-ordered block tickets are $25. Individual tickets are available at each house the day of Tour for $5 each. Box lunches are $10.
Brochures with
more details will be available at various public locations in Amelia and at the
Amelia County Historical Library at
The Glebe
“The
Glebe” is believed to have been built in 1774, with an addition in 1890, and is
in the process of being lovingly restored along with several outbuildings by Mr.
and Mrs. Steve Eisenhart, the present owners.
The first minister of
Haw Branch
Haw Branch Plantation house is a Registered Virginia
Historical Landmark and
To lessen the possibility of fire in the owner’s quarters, the kitchen was
located away from the mansion house. Here, at Haw Branch, for more than 100
years, meals were prepared and brought to the family in the main house. Numerous
primitive kitchen items are on display in the fully equipped kitchen.
Your host and Haw Branch’s owner, David Cardona, a talented artist and highly
skilled wood craftsman, has many of his personal items on display throughout the
home, enhancing the warmth of Haw Branch and adding to its living history.
Hardaway House
The
Hardaway House, located at 16605 Amelia Avenue and adjacent to the Norfolk
Southern Railroad, is a Federal style home commissioned around 1910 by its
namesake, Horace Hardaway.
The unmarried Hardaway and his three spinster
sisters (Sallie, Kate, and Lucy) lived in the house for about 25 years, assisted
in domestic affairs by a married couple who lived in a still-existing
outbuilding on the grounds.
At various times in its
100-year history, Hardaway House served as the “Amelia Hotel” (or just “the
hotel”), a boarding house, an apartment house, and again, since the 1960’s, a
private dwelling for a series of families. Opened as a hotel some 20 years after
the fiery end of what originally was the Otterburn Springs Hotel, it served as a
hotel for a dozen years through about 1947 and offered fine dining as well as
modern conveniences, including a radio in every room.
By the late 1960’s, the house again was remodeled
into a single family dwelling. Since then, it has changed hands among a
succession of families.
The family of Reverend Gary Austin currently resides
at Hardaway House.
Edgewood
Mr. Charles E. Wingo, part of Wingo and Crump Shoe Co. of
Richmond, VA, built
In June 1971, John T. Wingo sold
The Stuarts gutted the main house, and over the years, have added a deck, patio,
gazebo and garden room. Other renovations include converting the maid’s room
into Mrs. Stuart’s art studio and expanding the kitchen.
The property also has a log house that predates the main house by a number of
years. A separate cottage that postdates the main house was used as Charles
Wingo’s office and later his residence. The cottage and cabin will also be open
for the House Tour.
Dykeland
Dykeland is a Virginia Landmark and National Register property. It was named for dykes built along nearby Flat Creek. It has been home to only three families since its inception in the 18th century (Robertson family).
The Harvie/Taylor era began
about 100 years later in 1836 and ended with the death of Lewis Edwin Harvie’s
grandson, Tim Taylor, in 1967. Harvie moved part of a colonial era Robertson
house onto the property to form the north wing of the existing two-story
dwelling (also Robertson) and built a hip-roofed Italianate wing about 1859.
This addition resembles the
Dr. M. Gary Hadfield and his wife, Kathleen, have owned Dykeland for almost 40 years (1971). They have restored the mansion, adding a kitchen and bath to the north wing. They have also restored a rare row of 19th century dependencies (kitchen, smoke house and dairy) and reconstructed a unique well house. A new carriage house was built in 1990.
In 1995, an 1855 air cured
tobacco barn (possibly the oldest in
Hotel Amelia
The building,known today as Hotel Amelia, was built in 1929 as a private
residence adjacent to the railroad near Amelia Court House. Some of the families
who lived there were Lipscomb, Bollinger, Perdue, Eike, Wingo and Perkins.
Mr. and Mrs. R.C. Perkins erected the Hotel Amelia sign.
The dwelling remained a boarding house and private residence for years. Mr.
Perkins left the house to his caretaker, Mrs. Alice Amburn, who lived there
until her death.
The house fell in disrepair until it was purchased by Doug
and Janet Norris, who have restored the house and are in the process of
renovating the cottage on the property.
The hotel and general store opened in 2008 and is
run by the Norris family and friends.
A large front porch with rockers provides an opportunity to relax and enjoy the
historic rural county.
Zion Hill Church
Zion Hill Church was a result of five
congregations--Russell Grove, Big Oak, Albright, Allen Memorial and
The five churches began in 1864 as a
result of Mrs. Samantha J. Neil, an Union Army officer's widow, coming to Amelia
to search for her husband's grave. She did not find her husband's grave, but,
instead, discovered her life's work.
She remained in
The first church
was located on the grounds where Mrs. Neil taught her first class and was
appropriately named