In 1787, Nathaniel Gordon purchased 1,350 acres of land from a cousin of James Madison. He was granted a license to open a tavern there (located where the traffic circle is at the intersection of present day routes 15, 33 and 231). The building was known as Gordon’s Tavern, Gordon Tavern, and later as the Gordon Inn. It sat at the intersection of the Fredericksburg Great Road (ran from Charlottesville, through Orange to Fredericksburg) and the Richmond Road (ran from Richmond through Louisa and Gordonsville over the Blue Ridge Mountains into the Shenandoah Valley). Gordon was named the first postmaster in 1813, and the area became known as Gordonsville. Around the time that Nathaniel Gordon died in 1820, Gordonsville consisted of the tavern, a post office, a couple of homes, a general mercantile store and a blacksmith shop. A monument at the site of the inn reads- “Built by Nathaniel Gordon, 1787. Visited by Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Philip and James Barbour, Clark, Rives, Randolph, Wirt, Waddell, and other celebrities of Revolutionary, post-Revolutionary, and Confederate War periods. Lafayette made an address from porch. Old stage junction and night stop ovation to Lee nearby Jackson Headquarters.”

Nathaniel Gordon’s original tavern burned down in 1859. It was rebuilt and ultimately demolished in 1947. Two new roads, the Blue Ridge Turnpike in 1848 (route 231 north of the modern day traffic circle) and the Rockingham Turnpike in 1850 (route 33 west of the traffic circle), were subsequently built to connect the town to New Market and Harrisonburg, respectively.

In 1839, the Virginia General Assembly authorized the extension of what would become the Virginia Central Railroad from Louisa Court House to Gordonsville, connecting Gordonsville to Richmond. In 1840 a license to build a tavern at the depot was granted to Richard Omohundro. In 1854, the Orange and Alexandria Railroad completed its line into Gordonsville, connecting the area with Northern Virginia. Before the war both railroad lines were extended, cementing Gordonsville’s role as a transportation hub. Omohundro’s tavern built near the railroad depot at the junction of the two rail lines, about three quarters of a mile from the site of the Gordon Inn, burned in 1859. The Exchange Hotel was built on the site of Omohundro’s tavern the following year. During the Civil War, it was used as a receiving hospital that saw more than 70,000 patients.

Sites in Gordonsville relevant to the Civil War are shown below.

The Exchange Hotel and Museum- 400 South Main Street was covered in a previous post

Springfields- 19240 Springfields Road (38.14110213, -78.2412785). During the spring of 1864, 500 Confederate soldiers were encamped on the property. It was first settled by the Revolutionary War hero Colonel Reuben Lindsay. Most of the original home burned in 1893 and was replaced by the present residence.

Annandale- 9244 Lover’s Lane (38.1466169, -78.2153657). In 1804 the property was acquired by Revolutionary War veteran Sergeant Reuben Boston. The property remained in the Boston family until 1871. There was a hospital on the property during the Civil War thought to be in the main house.

Gordonsville Presbyterian Church- Stonewall Jackson attended services here. The Reverend Daniel B. Ewing was the minister. It was constructed around 1855. The pew that Jackson sat in for services was recently donated to the Exchange Hotel and Museum.

The Jackson pew with the background edited out for emphasis.

The junction of the Virginia Central and Orange Alexandria Railroads.

The depot- some of the original floorboards and beams exist but the building was reconstructed. It is owned by the Exchange Hotel and Museum. Dead soldiers bodies were kept here until they could be buried.

The property shown below, Windholme, is believed to have been the location of the camp described above.

Windholme Farm- 12425 Windholme Drive

Maplewood Cemetery- 3249 Maplewood Drive. This monument is dedicated to Confederate soldiers mostly from Georgia and North Carolina that died at the Gordonsville Exchange Hotel Hospital. Most of them are unknown and are buried in the field, some are known.

There are three small groups of graves that are of known soldiers.

The first are primarily from North Carolina.

The second group is primarily from Georgia.

The third and final group were from Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas.

Faulconer House- The oldest house in downtown Gordonsville built in 1856.

Rocklands- 17439 Rocklands Drive- not visible from the road. The pictures below are from the internet. This property was the sight of the cavalry battle- The Battle of Bell’s Mountain on December 23, 1864. Rocklands was the country home of Richard Barton Haxall, a wealthy Richmond mill owner. Lee stayed here in August 1862.

Source

Gordonsville, Virginia Historic Crossroads Town by William H.B. Thomas