Cumberland Court House Historic District

Cumberland Court House is the county seat village of Cumberland County, Virginia, in the southern Piedmont about 50 miles west of Richmond. The historic district follows Route 60 and nearby roads across about 372 acres and holds government, residential, commercial, educational and religious buildings. Its center is the courthouse square, where a temple-form brick courthouse and clerk's office, both credited to builder William A. Howard, were finished by 1821, with the old jail added around 1823. The Peter Foster house, a frame dwelling from the late eighteenth century, is the oldest surviving building. Most other resources date from the early and mid-twentieth century, when automobile traffic on Route 60 spurred new houses and businesses. Fires claimed early landmarks such as Effingham Tavern, and a 1950s realignment of Route 60 removed the old Flippens' Store. Two early farmsteads, Burleigh Hall and Woodlawn, mark the edges of the district. Together the buildings trace the village's change from a hamlet busy mainly on court days to a lasting community.