Maplewood lies along the route followed by ConfederategeneralRobert E. Lee and his army in their retreat during the final days of the Civil War, a phase known as the Appomattox campaign. Numerous roadside historical marker signs have been erected along the route, including an official one on modern-day US 360 at Maplewood that reads as follows:[5][6]
The last major battle fought by Lee's army occurred a few miles west at Sayler's Creek, on the border of Amelia and Prince Edward counties, on April 6, just before the surrender to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox on April 9.
Tornadoes
Amelia County is located in a small Central Virginia tornado alley and has had numerous tornado touchdowns. Tornadoes of note include the twister of April 30, 1924, which killed one person and injured seven others. Traveling from Jetersville to Chula, it destroyed seven homes in Maplewood and then passed east of the courthouse area.[7]
Landfill
In 1993, despite legal action by local residents,[8] the Maplewood Recycling and Waste Disposal Facility opened, replacing the previous county-operated landfill. With entrance from Maplewood Road west of Buckskin Creek Road, the complex currently covers a total area of 794 acres (321 ha),[9] more than a square mile, and is owned and operated by Waste Management of Virginia, Inc. In the aftermath of the 2014 coal-ash spill in Eden, North Carolina, in which some 39,000 tons of waste flowed into the Dan River, Duke Energy shipped 750 tons of the remaining coal ash via rail from its containment pond at the Dan River Steam Station in Eden to the Maplewood facility.[10]
References
^ John Stewart. "Milepost 40.0: Maplewood", 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. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
^ Bill Sammler (July 1, 2008). "Tornado History". Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM)-Vaemergency.gov. Archived from the original on March 17, 2014. Retrieved March 17, 2014.
^"Getting to Know Your Maplewood Landfill", Amelia County Department of Environmental Management, May 24, 2021. Amelia County, Virginia: Official government website. Retrieved November 29, 2021.
