Built in 1851, the Dinwiddie County Courthouse was the headquarters of Union General Philip H. Sheridan during the Battle of Dinwiddie and the Battle of Five Forks. The Union’s victory at Five Forks, lead to the capture of Lee’s last railroad supply line into Petersburg and the eventual fall of the city.
The adjacent Calvary Episcopal Church was used as a hospital by the First Maine Cavalry. Markers commemorate battles fought in the County and ten unknown Union soldiers buried in the churchyard.
Dinwiddie County was the birthplace of Elizabeth (Burwell) Hobbs Keckly who worked for Mrs. Jefferson Davis and later Mrs. Lincoln as a free black dressmaker.
The Courthouse was active through 1998 and now serves as the home to the Dinwiddie County Historical Society’s museum.