From his historical Scottish novels, Otelia chose the place names of Waverly, as well as Windsor and Wakefield.

She tapped the Scottish Clan "McIvor" for the name of Ivor, a small town in neighboring Southampton County.

William Mahone became a Major General in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, and later, a Senator in the United States Congress.

[5] One of the last lynchings in Virginia happened in Waverly in 1925, when a black man was arrested for allegedly attacking a married white woman and stealing a pistol belonging to her husband.

An armed mob of approximately 500 descended on the jail, seized the man, and then strung him up a tree, shot him, and burned him.

[6] Negative publicity surrounding the event and the lynching of another black man in Wytheville, Virginia in 1926, led to anti-lynching legislation.

[7] On February 24, 2016, an EF1 tornado moved directly through Waverly, killing three, as verified by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

[10] According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 3.1 square miles (8.0 km2), all of it land.