Heathsville, Virginia

Last updated

Heathsville
Heathsville Historic District - courthouse green from porch.JPG
The village green, from the porch of the Northumberland County Courthouse
USA Virginia location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Heathsville
Location within the state of Virginia
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Heathsville
Heathsville (the United States)
Coordinates: 37°55′3″N76°28′20″W / 37.91750°N 76.47222°W / 37.91750; -76.47222
CountryUnited States
State Virginia
County Northumberland
Population
 (2020)
  Total136
Time zone UTC−5 (Eastern (EST))
  Summer (DST) UTC−4 (EDT)
ZIP Code
22473
Area code 804

Heathsville is a census-designated place (CDP) in and the county seat of Northumberland County, Virginia, United States. Heathsville is in the easternmost county of the Northern Neck of Virginia, [1] which was the birthplace of three of the first five Presidents of the United States - George Washington, James Madison, and James Monroe. It is the county seat of Northumberland County, and has housed four county courthouses since the first was built in 1663.

Contents

It is also home to numerous historical home sites, some dating to the late 18th century. [2] [3] The Heathsville Historic District, Coan Baptist Church, Howland Chapel School, Kirkland Grove Campground, Rice's Hotel, Oakley, St. Stephen's Church, Sunnyside, and The Academy are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Heathsville is named after lawyer and politician John Heath. [4]

The population as of the 2020 Census was 136. [5] It is located on U.S. Route 360 (the Northumberland Highway) west of Reedville and east of Warsaw.

History

In 1679, the county justices of Northumberland County sought to move their courthouse from the Hull Neck area to a more central locale in the county. [6] To that end, local officials signed a contract with John Hughlett in 1680 to build a court house and attached prison upon "Mr. Hughlett's Indian Field," the future site of Heathsville. The court house would be completed the following year.

For most of its early history, Heathsville remained a small hamlet, with fewer than 12 buildings through the American Revolutionary War. [6] These buildings were small, poorly maintained wooden homes that one 1784 court order described as a "public nuisance." [7]

However, the town continued to grow, and several influential residents of the county successfully petitioned the Virginia General Assembly to incorporate Northumberland Court House as a town in 1797; this group included John Heath, for whom the town was named. [6] In 1798, Anglo-American architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe surveyed the new town of Heathsville and divided it into 40 lots. By the early nineteenth century, Heathsville had continued its expansion, with one chronicler describing it as "a handsome post-village" with "a large church, an academy, and a mill." [8] It was during this time in Heathsville's history that many of its historic homes (Sunnyside, Springfield, The Academy, and others) were built and expanded. [6]

Eventually, the Civil War would dampen Heathsville's continued growth, but the town largely recovered from the conflict by 1880. [6] In 1873, an association of local women erected a new statue to the fallen soldiers of the Confederacy. Unlike many similar monuments, it did not feature a soldier, but a woman holding an anchor, symbolizing how the area's women served as an "anchor" for the community during the Civil War. [6]

Despite the area's geographical isolation, continued steamboat travel around the Northern Neck kept the town accessible during the postbellum years, but steamboat service was suspended in 1937. [6] Also during this time, the pressures of urbanization and the Great Depression led many young residents away from Heathsville's farms and to more populated areas for employment. As the town's grist-milling, distilling, and wagon-making industries died out, the area became increasingly reliant on its courthouse to compensate for its lack of manufacturing. [6]

Today, Heathsville's population continues to shrink, having lost over one-quarter of its population since 1980. [5] The local Chamber of Commerce describes Heathsville as "based in the 18th century but living in the 21st." [9] The area behind the old courthouse is home to a farmer's market the third Saturday of each month from April through October. [10] This area also hosts craft guilds dedicated to the preservation and use of pre-industrial skills, including iron forging, wood working, quilting, and weaving. [11]

Demographics

Racial composition as of 2020(NH = Non-Hispanic)
Race / EthnicityPop 2020 [12] % 2020
White alone (NH)10677.94%
Black or African American alone (NH)1813.23%
Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)00.00%
Asian alone (NH)21.47%
Pacific Islander alone (NH)00.00%
Some Other Race alone (NH)10.74%
Mixed Race/Multi-Racial (NH)75.15%
Hispanic or Latino (any race)21.47%
Total136100.00%

Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race.

Historical population
CensusPop.Note
1980 185
1990 127−31.4%
2000 14211.8%
2010 1420.0%
2020 136−4.2%
U.S. Decennial Census [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northumberland County, Virginia</span> County in Virginia, United States

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lancaster County, Virginia</span> County in Virginia, United States

Lancaster County is a county located on the Northern Neck in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population sits at 10,919. Its county seat is Lancaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isle of Wight County, Virginia</span> County in Virginia, United States

Isle of Wight County is a county located in the Hampton Roads region of the U.S. state of Virginia. It was named after the Isle of Wight, England, south of the Solent, from where many of its early colonists had come. As of the 2020 census, the population was 38,606. Its county seat is Isle of Wight, an unincorporated community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leonardtown, Maryland</span> Town in Maryland, United States

Leonardtown is a town in and the county seat of St. Mary's County, Maryland, United States. The population was 4,563 at the 2020 census. Leonardtown is perhaps most famous for the national oyster-shucking championship that is held annually at the St. Mary's County fairgrounds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greenville, Virginia</span> CDP in Virginia, United States

Greenville is a census-designated place (CDP) in Augusta County, Virginia, United States. The population was 832 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Staunton–Waynesboro Micropolitan Statistical Area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fincastle, Virginia</span> Town in Virginia, United States

Fincastle is a town in Botetourt County, Virginia, United States. The population was 755 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Botetourt County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastville, Virginia</span> Town in Virginia, United States

Eastville is a town in Northampton County, Virginia, United States. The population was 203 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Northampton County. The Northampton County Courthouse Historic District is part of the Eastville Historic District at the county seat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warsaw, Virginia</span> Town in Virginia, United States

Warsaw is an incorporated town in and the county seat of Richmond County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,637 at the 2020 census and is estimated to be 2,281 as of 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Courtland, Virginia</span> Town in Virginia, United States

Courtland is an incorporated town in Southampton County, Virginia, United States. It is the county seat of Southampton County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mentone, Texas</span> Census-designated place in Texas, United States

Mentone is an unincorporated small town in, and the county seat of Loving County, Texas, United States. It had a population of 19 in 2010, almost a quarter of the county's 82 people at the time.

Fannett is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Jefferson County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,363 at the 2020 census. It is about 15 miles (24 km) southwest of Beaumont and is part of the Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Knoxville, Georgia</span> Census-designated place in Georgia, United States

Knoxville is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Crawford County, Georgia, United States. It is the Crawford County seat. The community is part of the Macon Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census, Knoxville had a population of 65.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles City, Virginia</span> Census-designated place in Virginia, United States

Charles City is a census-designated place (CDP) in Charles City County, Virginia, United States. It is the county seat of Charles City County. The population as of the 2020 census was 104.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palo Pinto, Texas</span> CDP in Texas, United States

Palo Pinto is a census-designated place (CDP) and unincorporated community and county seat in Palo Pinto County, Texas, United States. This was a new CDP for the 2010 census with a population of 333.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lovingston, Virginia</span> Place in Virginia, United States

Lovingston is a census-designated place (CDP) in and the county seat of Nelson County, Virginia, United States. The population as of the 2010 Census was 520. Its ZIP Code is 22949. It was among the communities severely affected by flash flooding from Hurricane Camille in 1969.

Sussex is a census-designated place (CDP) in and the county seat of Sussex County, Virginia, United States. The population as of the 2020 Census was 181.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacinto, Mississippi</span> Census-designated place in Mississippi, United States

Jacinto, founded in 1836, was named after the Battle of San Jacinto in the Texas Revolution. Jacinto was located in the geographic center of the original Tishomingo County, Mississippi. Within ten years of its founding, Jacinto became a flourishing town with stores, hotels, schools, churches and taverns, serving as the center of government and commerce for the county.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rice's Hotel</span> United States historic place

Now known as Rice's Hotel / Hughlett's Tavern, this "courthouse tavern" was built in stages between the late 1700s and the mid-19th century. Throughout the years, this historic Northern Neck landmark has served as in inn, a tavern, a hotel, apartments, and business offices. The structure is located at Heathsville, Northumberland County, Virginia. It is a two-story, frame building with a 12-bay front and two-tier wooden piazza and Federal style interior.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heathsville Historic District</span> Historic district in Virginia, United States

Heathsville Historic District is a national historic district located at Heathsville, Northumberland County, Virginia. The district includes 81 contributing buildings, 12 contributing sites, 4 contributing structures, and 4 contributing objects in the county seat of Northumberland County. It is an assemblage of residential, commercial, and government buildings dating from the 18th through 20th centuries in a variety of popular architectural styles. The linear district is centered on the courthouse square. Notable buildings include the Northumberland Court House, the old county jail (1844), the former Methodist Protestant Church, Harding House, Belleville, Heathsville Masonic Lodge No. 109 (1894), Bank of Northumberland (1924), and the Heathsville United Methodist Church (1894). Located in the district and separately listed are Rice's Hotel, Oakley, St. Stephen's Church, Sunnyside, and The Academy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tazewell, Georgia</span> Census-designated place in Georgia, United States

Tazewell is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Marion County, in the U.S. state of Georgia.

References

  1. "The County". March 21, 2017. Retrieved February 12, 2019.
  2. "Historic Heathsville". Historic Heathsville. Retrieved February 12, 2019.
  3. Historic Heathsville Walking Tour brochure
  4. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  5. 1 2 Bureau, US Census. "Decennial Census of Population and Housing". Census.gov. Retrieved March 6, 2023.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Heathsville Historic District 1992 Final Nomination" (PDF). Virginia Department of Historic Resources. January 2, 1992. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 6, 2023. Retrieved March 5, 2023.
  7. Jett, Carolyn (1989). Heathsville: Yesterday and Today. The Woman's Club of Northumberland County. p. 6.
  8. "Statistical Gazetteer Virginia – New River Notes" . Retrieved March 6, 2023.
  9. "The County – Welcome to the Northumberland County Chamber of Commerce" . Retrieved March 6, 2023.
  10. "Rice's Hotel - Hughlett's Tavern". www.rhhtfoundationinc.org. Retrieved February 12, 2019.
  11. "Rice's Hotel - Hughlett's Tavern | Guilds". www.rhhtfoundationinc.org. Retrieved February 12, 2019.
  12. "P2 HISPANIC OR LATINO, AND NOT HISPANIC OR LATINO BY RACE – 2020: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) – Heathsville CDP, Virginia". United States Census Bureau .
  13. "Census of Population and Housing". Census.gov. Retrieved June 4, 2015.