From Colonial times to the present, Spotsylvania County has played a major role in the nation’s most tumultuous times and is home to a bevy of significant sites and notable figures. Here’s just a brief overview of some history this burgeoning county has witnessed over the last 300 years.
Summer 1608
English explorer Capt. John Smith sails up the Rappahannock River on a two-week journey, ending in what is now Spotsylvania County.
1720
Straddling the fall line, Spotsylvania is formed from Essex, King William, and King and Queen Counties in 1720. The county is legally established May 1, 1721. It is named for Alexander Spotswood, former royal lieutenant governor of Virginia.
1720s
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Alexander Spotswood’s Iron Mine Co. is founded at Germanna. It is the first fully equipped iron furnace in the colonies. The ironworks is the county’s first industry.
Aug. 1, 1722
Spotsylvania’s first court meets at Germanna, where Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood made his home.
Oct. 1, 1723
The county’s first tax levy is laid, with 670 people taxed and quit rents paid to the British government on 45,444 acres of farmland.
1725
Mattaponi becomes the first church in Spotsylvania. It is called “The Mother Church.”
1728
The Corporate Towne of Fredericksburg is founded from a portion of Spotsylvania by act of the Virginia General Assembly. It is named for Frederick, Prince of Wales.
1730
Virginia’s first post office is established in Spotsylvania. This is how the New Post area got its name. In 1729, during a trip to England, former Virginia Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood had been named deputy postmaster general of America. Because he had successfully operated an ironworks near New Post, it was thought he possessed the administrative know-how to carry out the job as postmaster. He remained in the post until his death in 1740.
June 6, 1732
The county court has its last meeting at Germanna. In August of that year, the court meets at the home of Henry Willis in Fredericksburg. For the sum of 1,500 pounds of tobacco per year, the court is able to rent Willis’ stone cellar for a jail and the room above it for a courtroom.
Aug. 16, 1780
The Spotsylvania Militia is decimated during the Battle of Camden in South Carolina. It was a major victory for the British military in the Southern theater of the American Revolution.
MARCH 1781
The court first meets at a new county courthouse. It had previously been ordered by the Virginia General Assembly to be established at the geographic center of Spotsylvania, on a spot just north of the Po River on what is now known as Blockhouse Road. The building was constructed by Thomas Pritchett in 1780.
June 1781
During the Revolution, the Marquis de Lafayette’s army on the way to Yorktown is joined by the Spotsylvania Militia near Ely’s Ford.
1800
A new courthouse is built on the same land near the Po River.
Jan. 14, 1806
Matthew Fontaine Maury is born in Spotsylvania. The pioneering naval officer is regarded as the father of modern oceanography and naval meteorology.
1806
Gold is discovered at Whitehall Mine near Shady Grove Church in western Spotsylvania. The discovery sets off a gold mining industry that lasts until overtaken by the California gold rush in 1846.
1811
The state legislature follows the lead of other states to recommend construction of the Rappahannock Canal to open the river to trade.
1829
Gold is discovered in the area near Louisa County, formerly called “Gold Hill,” at Goodwin Mine. The site, at what is now Lake Anna State Park, is the third-largest gold mine in the country between 1830 and 1849. Today, gold-panning programs are popular at the park, where guided tours of the mine are offered.
1834
The Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad receives its charter. The rail line from Richmond north to Washington is complete through Spotsylvania by 1837.
1838
A fire destroys the county courthouse near the Po River.
1839
A new courthouse is built on 10 acres adjacent to Rawlings Tavern; the area becomes known as Spotsylvania Courthouse.
May 23, 1861
The Virginia Assembly passes an Ordinance of Secession and Virginia joins the Confederate States of America.
Dec. 11–15, 1862
Union Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside’s Army of the Potomac sees a bloody defeat during the Battle of Fredericksburg, which is fought in Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania. The battle resulted in 12,653 Union and 4,201 Confederate casualties. When President Abraham Lincoln hears the news, he moans, “If there is a place worse than hell, I am in it!” The Fredericksburg defeat was one of the lowest points for Union fortunes in the war.
April 30–May 5, 1863
Considered to be Gen. Robert E. Lee’s greatest battle, the Battle of Chancellorsville encompasses some of the boldest strategies of the war. More than 30,000 casualties are suffered, among them Confederate icon Gen. “Stonewall” Jackson. On the night of May 2, Jackson was mistakenly shot in the arm by his own men while returning from a reconnaissance of Union lines. His arm was later amputated—and the limb is said to be buried at Ellwood Manor in Spotsylvania. Jackson died of pneumonia eight days later in Guinea Station in Caroline County.
May 5–7, 1864
A few miles to the west of where the Battle of Chancellorsville had been fought one year earlier, the Battle of Wilderness marks the first battle of Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s Overland Campaign and the first clash between the troops of Grant and Gen. Robert E. Lee. The bloody engagement, which occurs in Spotsylvania and Orange counties, has an inconclusive finish. Among the dead are 2,246 Union and 1,495 Confederate soldiers. Nearly 20,000 fighters on both sides of the war were wounded.
May 8–21, 1864
The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, the second major engagement in Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s Overland Campaign, occurs over two weeks in the courthouse area. It costs 18,000 Union and 12,000 Confederate casualties, including those who die during a hand-to-hand assault that lasts for nearly 20 hours and is one of the bloodiest attacks of the war. After the attack, that site becomes known as the Bloody Angle. More than one week later, Grant ultimately disengages from the fight and ordered his men to continue their march south. Both sides declare victory. In April of the following year, Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House.
1870
Spotsylvania County establishes its public education system with one-room schools.
1873
The first school for Black children—a one-room schoolhouse—is registered with the county.
1913
Snell Training School, the first high school for Black students in the county, is established by the Spotsylvania Sunday School Union under the leadership of John J. Wright, a prominent educator. It is built by Alfred Fairchild. By 1922, the school is completed. Wright teaches there and later becomes principal.
1920
Robert E. Lee High becomes the first accredited county high school.
Feb. 14, 1927
Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park opens. The park, which encompasses land and sites related to the four major Civil War battles, is established as Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields Memorial National Military Park. It includes 8,374 acres.
1930
Sylvania Industrial Corp. opens, manufacturing cellophane. The Spotsylvania plant is often credited for saving the region’s economy by providing jobs during the Great Depression.
Sept. 12, 1946
American Viscose Corp. acquires Sylvania. By that time, the Spotsylvania plant was producing cellophane, cellulose casings for meats, self-sealing viscose bands for bottle tops, textiles and plastic molding compounds.
1947
Spotsylvania Volunteer Fire Department is established.
October 1950
Businessman and WWII veteran Sidney L. Shannon Jr. founds Shannon Airport just south of Fredericksburg in Spotsylvania. Shannon’s father had been the first man in the area to own an airplane and had opened in airfield near Fredericksburg Fairgrounds in the 1920s.
1952
The John J. Wright Consolidated School opens to all of the county’s Black youth.
January 1963
The chemical manufacturing company Food Manufacturing Corp. purchases American Viscose. All Avisco assets, including its Spotsylvania plant, would transfer to FMC under the sale.
May 1963
Spotsylvania holds tours, exhibits and an arts festival in observation of the centennial of the Battle of Chancellorsville.
Aug. 29, 1963
Seven Black girls leave John J. Wright school to be integrated into local formerly all-white schools. This happens one day after the Rev. Martin Luther King gives his “I have a dream” speech.
May 3–17, 1964
Spotsylvania County Museum opens in the Old Berea Christian Church building during the Wilderness and Spotsylvania centennial observance period. There are also battlefield tours, the issuance of a 5-cent Wilderness Commemorative Stamp, luncheons, battle demonstrations, a ball, festival, pageant and the rededication of monuments.
1968
Virginia Electric and Power Co. (now Dominion Energy) starts construction on the Lake Anna Reservoir. By 1972, the lake is fully impounded thanks to torrential rains from Hurricane Agnes.
September 1968
Spotsylvania begins the 1968–69 school year fully integrated. School Superintendent John Neely had relocated his office into what became John J. Wright Middle School in anticipation of integration.
1969
Central Rappahannock Regional Library System is established.
Oct. 17, 1970
Spotsylvania celebrates its 250th year with speakers, presentations, a luncheon and a parade in the courthouse area.
Jan. 9, 1970
The first legal sale of a mixed drink in more than half a century takes place at the Sheraton Motor Inn. The previous November, county voters cleared the way for the sale of mixed drinks in a referendum by a 2,501–1,451 vote.
1972
Lake Anna, a 13,000-acre reservoir in the triangle formed by the cities of Charlottesville, Fredericksburg, and Richmond, is created by Virginia Electric and Power Co., now Dominion Energy. It serves as a recreational lake and provides cooling water for the North Anna Nuclear Power Station.
June 9, 1972
The Sunday sale of alcoholic beverages are approved by the county’s Board of Supervisors by a 4–0 vote. The previous year, the measure had been rejected in a 4–0 vote amid an outcry among many of the county’s church leaders and members.
1975
A 21-year-old Howard Stern attends the Radio Engineering Institute of Electronics, which was located at Shannon Airport. Stern later becomes a popular radio and television personality.
July 2–4, 1976
Spotsylvania, officially designated a Bicentennial Community, celebrates the nation’s 200th birthday with a three-day event featuring reenactments, a parade, politicians, dog and horse shows, a beauty pageant, gospel singing and a pie-eating contest.
June 19, 1976
Sidney Shannon Jr. opens the first Shannon Air Museum at the Spotsylvania airport. He dedicates the museum to his late father.
Jan. 23, 1977
On Jan. 23, 1977, ABC aired “Roots,” a miniseries based on Alex Haley’s novel, “Roots: The Saga of an American Family.” Haley’s best-selling novel, published in 1976, cast his African ancestor, Kunta Kinte, as a slave of a Spotsylvania family.
Nov. 10, 1977
Author Alex Haley and actor LeVar Burton visit Spotsylvania during the filming of the “Roots: A Second Look.” Haley receives a proclamation from county supervisors. Haley says, “Because of many of the distortions of the historical order, there are many things not to be proud of. But they are in the past tense. Our job now is to see that they remain in the past tense and that their legacy does not live on.”
March 8, 1978
The last cellophane sheets are spun at the FMC plant. Employees had received news of the facility’s closure in February, and the first workers began leaving in early March. At its peak, the plant employed 2,600 people.
Feb. 18, 1980
The doors of the first store in Spotsylvania Mall, Sears, swings open to a small but eager crowd. The retailer had closed its downtown location to move into the new center. Other stores coming to the mall were Leggett’s, Montgomery Ward and J.C. Penney. Also scheduled to open were Radio Shack, Spencer Gifts, Chess King, Waldenbooks, Cole Books, Thom McAn, Pants Corral, Kay Jewelers and Casual Corner.
June 1978
The first of two nuclear reactors go into commercial operation at the power plant run by Virginia Electric and Power Co. (now Dominion Energy) in neighboring Louisa County. The second unit follows in December 1980.
June 17, 1981
Spotsylvania’s first public swimming pool opens at Loriella Park. Temperatures hit 85 degrees, and by day’s end, 482 people had used the facility. W.K. Gordon Jr. and his wife, Melissa, donated the 209 acres that make up Loriella Park to Spotsylvania County in 1978.
1983
Central Rappahannock Regional Library’s Spotsylvania Courthouse Branch is established across the street from the courthouse. Now named the C. Melvin Snow Memorial Library, it relocated to the Marshall Center building in 1998.
July 7, 1983
Lake Anna State Park, a 2,058-acre tract off State Route 601 on the Spotsylvania shore of Lake Anna, opens. Dels. V. Earl Dickinson and Robert W. Ackerman speak at the opening ceremony.
Dec. 31, 1983
The city of Fredericksburg annexes 4.6 square miles of Spotsylvania along State Route 3 for $4.1 million.
Jan. 13, 1987
Jean W. Jones becomes the first woman to chair the Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors.
February 1988
A. Smith Bowman Distillery, the state’s oldest distillery, relocates to Spotsylvania from Reston. It moves into the former FMC plant, which is now an industrial park.
June 1994
Danny McBride graduates from Courtland High School. The actor–comedian has appeared in several movies and TV shows.
Sept. 19, 1994
Central Rappahannock Regional Library’s Salem Church Branch opens. In its first week, 16,000 books, videos, and CDs are checked out.
JAN. 15, 1998
President Bill Clinton presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to county resident James Farmer. In 1942, Farmer, a Texas native, and other civil rights leaders founded the Congress of Racial Equality. Under Farmer’s leadership, CORE organized “Freedom Riders” to desegregate interstate transportation in the Deep South in 1961. He was an assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare and later taught at Mary Washington College. Farmer died in July 1999.
May 2000
Spotsylvania marks its 279th birthday with the burial of a time capsule between the historic courthouse and the county administrator’s office. It is intended to be unearthed in 2021 and again in 2121.
July 23, 2003
The Ron Rosner Family YMCA, a branch of the Rappahannock Area YMCA, opens off Smith Station Road.
2007
Hugh Fleming, former operator of the Chick-fil-A in Spotsylvania Mall who had created a sought-after dipping sauce in the 1980s, gives the recipe for the concoction to the chain upon his retirement. Today, the sauce is the most popular of the company’s condiments.
Jan. 30, 2010
Caressa Cameron wins the Miss America pageant. She is the first Black Miss Virginia, and the third Miss Virginia to win the crown. Cameron grew up in Spotsylvania and graduated from Massaponax High School in 2005.
May 24, 2010
Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center opens as the first hospital in the county. The facility represents a new kind of hospital company for the region, a for-profit operation that pays state and local taxes.
July 1, 2010
A grand opening celebration is held at The Village at Towne Centre, an exterior addition to the mall, now called Spotsylvania Towne Center. The addition brings several stores, shops, restaurants and a new movie theater to the county.
Sept. 9, 2010
John J. Wright Educational and Cultural Center Museum opens in the library of the school. Its exhibits focus on the Black school’s history, as well as that of the county and region.
November 2015
A Virginia Railway Express station opens in Spotsylvania off U.S. 17, marking the first extension of the commuter rail line since its 1992 opening.
April 9, 2016
The inaugural race is held at a new motorsports complex, Dominion Raceway, in Thornburg. The more than 100-acre raceway also has a 2-mile road course and a go-kart track in the oval track’s infield.
Aug. 8, 2018
Spotsylvania Towne Centre Branch Library opens.
2021
Spotsylvania celebrates its 300th anniversary.