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Winterham, Virginia

Coordinates: 37°22′4″N 77°55′53″W / 37.36778°N 77.93139°W / 37.36778; -77.93139
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Winterham, Virginia
Unincorporated community
Mt. Herman Presbyterian Church building, before restoration
Mt. Herman Presbyterian Church building, before restoration
Winterham, Virginia is located in Virginia
Winterham, Virginia
Winterham, Virginia
Location within the Commonwealth of Virginia
Winterham, Virginia is located in the United States
Winterham, Virginia
Winterham, Virginia
Winterham, Virginia (the United States)
Coordinates: 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 code804
GNIS feature ID1477890

Winterham (also called "Ham", according to the USGS) is a mostly rural unincorporated community in central Amelia County in the U.S. state of Virginia, lying along US 360 at the northern terminus of SR 628 (Butlers Road). Its elevation is 338 feet (103 m) above sea level.[1] Winterham is served by the volunteer fire department and post office at the county seat, Amelia Court House (ZIP code 23002), approximately 3 miles southwest.[2]

History

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Name and origin

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"Winterham" is one of the oldest surviving place‑names in Amelia County, dating back at least to the mid-1700s.[3] Its precise origin is unclear, but the suffix "-ham" 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] A post office was established at the town of Winterham by 1853,[6] and by the early 1900s the town was a freight stop, at Milepost 34,[7] on what was then the Southern Railway, originally the Richmond and Danville Railroad. The railroad station and post office have since closed, although the railroad track, which parallels US 360 before the highway curves southeastward at Winterham, is still used by freight trains, and is now owned by the Norfolk Southern Railway.

African American churches

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Mt. Olive Baptist, a historic African American church, is located 1/2 mile northeast of Winterham on SR 705 (Mt. Olive Lane, a short loop segment of old US 360). Just to the east, also on Route 705, Mt. Herman Presbyterian was once the meeting place of a separate African American congregation. Built in the late 1800s, the structure had fallen into disrepair (see photo) before being privately renovated in 2020.[8] Church of the Holy Cross, a Reformed Episcopal congregation, was meeting regularly in the restored building as of 2023.[9]

Morefield Mine

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Morefield Mine, one of several rock and gem mines that have been worked profitably in Amelia County, is located on Route 628 approximately 1 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,[10] operating intermittently as a working mine, tourist attraction, and sometimes both simultaneously.[11] Amelia County contains some of the most extensive mica and feldspar deposits in Virginia.[10]

References

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  1. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Winterham, Virginia, 1979-09-28. Accessed 2008-06-06.
  2. ^ The Road Atlas '08. Chicago: Rand McNally, 2008, p. 107.
  3. ^ Pawlett, Miller, & Clark. "Amelia County Road Orders 1735-1753", Virginia Department of Transportation, pages 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. ^ "Winterham", National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Accessed 2021-12-11.
  6. ^ Virginius Cornick Hall 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.
  7. ^ John Stewart. "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.
  8. ^ Greg McQuade. "Couple restores old African-American church". CBS 6 News, Richmond, July 4, 2020. Accessed 2023-07-14.
  9. ^ Contact and location, Church of the Holy Cross: A mission of the Reformed Episcopal Church worshiping in the Anglican tradition. Accessed 2023-07-14.
  10. ^ a b William Randall Brown. Mica and Feldspar Deposits of Virginia, pages 4, 15, 21, 60. Virginia Division of Mineral Resources, 1962. Accessed 2021-12-19.
  11. ^ "Morefield Mine (Morefield pegmatite), Winterham, Amelia Co., Virginia, USA". Mindat.org, The Hudson Institute of Mineralogy. Accessed 2021-12-07.
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