Clover Hill Tavern

Built in 1819, the Clover Hill Tavern was the first building in what became the village of Appomattox Court House and served travelers along the Richmond-Lynchburg Stage Road. For several decades, it provided the village’s only restaurant, overnight lodging, and bar, and its presence helped lead the Virginia legislature to locate the Appomattox County seat there, with the courthouse built across the street in 1846. By 1865, the tavern had declined into what one Union general called a bare and cheerless place, yet it was one of only two buildings in town used by the Federal army during the surrender process. On the evening of April 10, 1865, Union soldiers set up printing presses there and began producing paroles for surrendered Confederates, ultimately printing more than 30,000 parole documents.

Appomattox, Virginia · United States