Amelia Court House was founded in a rural area of the Virginia Piedmont developed for plantations of mixed crops.

After General Robert E. Lee retreated from Petersburg in 1865, he spent April 4 and 5 in Amelia Court House waiting for desperately needed supplies from Richmond.

The last major engagement of Lee's army with Union forces occurred April 6, 1865, on the border of Amelia County at the Battle of Sayler's Creek.

The Union forces were rushing to catch up to Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and did not ensure that the courthouse records were burned.

At the first Amelia Day, residents signed a long roll that, along with other items, was put in a time capsule and buried in the courthouse green near the Confederate War Memorial.

Tornadoes of note include the April 30, 1924, twister that passed east of the courthouse area, traveling from Jetersville to Chula, killing one person and injuring seven others.