It is located in the middle of the state about three miles (5 km) southwest of the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, once known as Clover Hill—home of the original Old Appomattox Court House.

Before the Civil War, the railroad bypassed Clover Hill, now known as the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park.

The county seat was formally moved to the town of West Appomattox in 1894 and the word "West" was dropped in time making the name of the town just Appomattox, Virginia.

[3] This building, erected in 1892 when the county seat was moved to this location, should not be mistaken for the original, built in 1846 and destroyed by fire in 1892.

The village of Old Appomattox Court House is now preserved as a national shrine by the Federal Government.Two members of the United States House of Representatives, Henry D. Flood and his half-brother Joel West Flood, are entombed in a mausoleum on the courthouse green.