Appomattox Court House National Historical Park Ruins - Coleman House Ruin

Coleman House Ruin

The original Coleman Family homestead was given to Samuel H. Coleman and his wife Armanda as a wedding present from the bride's father. The farm existed in 1862 and continually worked into the early 20th century. The Coleman house ruin is located north of the Oakville Road trace in an area of heavy Civil War fighting leading up to the end of the war.

The Coleman house ruin is significant under certain criteria of the National Park Service by virtue of its association with the site of General Robert E. Lee's surrender to General Ulysses S. Grant. It is significant under certain criteria as being likely to yield information important in Virginia history of the 19th and 20th century. The house was abandoned between 1920 and 1950.

The above ground remains are 10 inches (250 mm) high by over 13 feet (4.0 m) long, however the lines of the remaining foundation are clearly visible. The north elevation contains ruins of an exterior stone fireplace, 3 feet 2 inches (0.97 m) deep by 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m) long by 3 feet (0.91 m) high. There are indications of a brick chimney stack. The upper wall configurations or construction is unknown. The theory is that it was log plank.

The Coleman Tobacco Barn was an original agricultural outbuilding to the Coleman estate and the only remaining still-standing structure. The building located north of the Richmond-Lynchburg Stage Road Trace existed at the time of the American Civil War and is representative of the grain culture. It is significant under certain criteria by embodying the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, and method of construction in rural Virginia of the nineteenth century. The buildings and resources constitute a holistic landscape typical of both a county government seat in Piedmont Virginia in the mid-19th century and of a farming community in Virginia.