Winterham, Virginia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Winterham
Unincorporated community
Winterham is located in Virginia
Winterham
Winterham
Location within the Commonwealth of Virginia
Coordinates: 37°22′4″N 77°55′53″W / 37.36778°N 77.93139°W / 37.36778; -77.93139Coordinates: 37°22′4″N 77°55′53″W / 37.36778°N 77.93139°W / 37.36778; -77.93139
CountryUnited States
StateVirginia
CountyAmelia
Elevation
338 ft (103 m)
Time zoneUTC−5 (Eastern (EST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC−4 (EDT)
ZIP code
23002
Area code(s)804
GNIS feature ID1477890

Winterham (also called "Ham", according to the USGS) is a mostly rural unincorporated community in central Amelia County, Virginia, United States. It lies along U.S. Route 360 at the northern terminus of SR 628 (Butlers Road), 3 miles northeast of the town of Amelia Court House, the county seat of Amelia County.[1] Its elevation is 338 feet (103 m) above sea level.[2]

The precise origin of the name Winterham is unclear, but it dates back at least to the mid-1700s;[3] the suffix "-ham" as it is most commonly used in various place‑names derives from Scots hame or Old English hām, meaning "home", "estate", or "village".[4] The earliest uses of "Winterham" probably referred not to the town but to the Winterham Plantation, approximately 4 miles northwest, whose manor house and dependencies were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.[5][6] A post office was established at the town of Winterham by 1853,[7] and by the early 1900s the town was a freight stop[8] on what was then the Southern Railway, originally the Richmond and Danville Railroad. The railroad station and post office have since closed. The railroad track, which parallels US 360 before the highway curves southeastward at Winterham, is still used, although only by freight trains, and is now owned by the Norfolk Southern Railway.

Morefield Mine, one of several mines that have been worked profitably in Amelia County, is located on Route 628 approximately one mile southeast of Winterham, atop an unusually long and thick vein of pegmatite that contains a number of rare minerals. Since its opening in 1929, Morefield Mine has provided mica, feldspar, and gems, many of museum quality,[9] operating intermittently as a working mine, tourist attraction, and sometimes both simultaneously.[10] Amelia County contains some of the most extensive mica and feldspar deposits in Virginia.[9]


References[]

  1. ^ Rand McNally. The Road Atlas '08. Chicago: Rand McNally, 2008, p. 107.
  2. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Winterham, Virginia, Geographic Names Information System, 1979-09-28. Accessed 2008-06-06.
  3. ^ Pawlett, Miller, & Clark. "Amelia County Road Orders 1735-1753", Virginia Department of Transportation, pp. 64, 104. Charlottesville: Virginia Transportation Research Council, April 2002, VTRC 02-R14. Accessed 2021-12-11.
  4. ^ "ham", Old English, Wiktionary. Accessed 2021-12-24.
  5. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  6. ^ Winterham, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Accessed 2021-12-11.
  7. ^ Hall, Virginius Cornick Jr. "Virginia Post Offices, 1798-1859", The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 81, no. 1, Virginia Historical Society, January 1973, page 96. Accessed 2021-12-04.
  8. ^ Stewart, John. "Milepost 34.0: Winterham", Jefferson Davis's Flight from Richmond: The Calm Morning, Lee's Telegrams, the Evacuation, the Train, the Passengers, the Trip, the Arrival in Danville and the Historians' Frauds. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2014. Accessed 2021-12-19.
  9. ^ a b Brown, William Randall. Mica and Feldspar Deposits of Virginia, pp. 4, 15, 21, 60. Virginia Division of Mineral Resources, 1962. Accessed 2021-12-19.
  10. ^ Morefield Mine (Morefield pegmatite), Winterham, Amelia Co., Virginia, USA. Mindat.org, The Hudson Institute of Mineralogy. Accessed 2021-12-07.

External links[]


Stub icon

This Amelia County, Virginia state location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .

  • v
  • t
Retrieved from ""