Appomattox Court House National Historical Park The Appomattox Court House National Historical Park is a National Historical Park of original and reconstructed nineteenth century buildings in Virginia . It was signed into law August 3 , 1935 . The village was made a national monument in 1940 and a national historical park in 1954 . It is located three miles ( 5 km ) east of Appomattox , Virginia , the location of the Appomattox Station and the " new " Appomattox Court House . It is in the center of the state about east of Lynchburg , Virginia . The village is famous as the site of the Battle of Appomattox Court House and containing the house of Wilmer McLean , where the surrender of the Confederate Army under Robert E . Lee to Union commander Ulysses S . Grant took place on Palm Sunday April 9 , 1865 , effectively ending the American Civil War . The historical park was described in 1989 as having an area of . History of the village . The antebellum village started out as " Clover Hill " named after its oldest existing structure , the Clover Hill Tavern ( c . 1819 ) . The village was a stagecoach stop along the Richmond - Lynchburg stage road . It was the site of organizational meetings and in 1845 the village of Clover Hill was chosen as the new county seat of Appomattox . The activity in Clover Hill centered around Clover Hill Tavern . The tavern provided lodging to travelers . Fresh horses for the stage line were also provided at the stop , which had been done since the tavern was built . When Appomattox County was established by an Act on February 8 , 1845 , Clover Hill village became the county seat . It was parts of Buckingham , Prince Edward , Charlotte , and Campbell Counties . The jurisdiction took its name from the headwaters that emanate there , the Appomattox River . Early Virginians believe the name Appomattox came from an Indian tribe called Apumetec . From about 1842 Hugh Raine basically owned most of the Clover Hill area . He obtained it from his brother John Raine who defaulted on his loans . Later he sold the property to a Colonel Samuel D . McDearmon . Since his acquisition it became the county seat and he surveyed of the hamlet . He designated to be used by the new county to build a courthouse and other government buildings . The courthouse was to be built across the Stage Road from the Clover Hill Tavern . The jail was to be built behind the courthouse . McDearmon divided the remaining land surrounding the courthouse into lots . He felt that with Clover Hills ' new status as a county seat he would find professional people ready and willing to purchase the lots . His hopes were later dashed in 1854 as the train depot stopped three miles ( 5 km ) west in Appomattox , Virginia . The American Civil War put the final nails in the coffin . The district once known as Clover Hill and later renamed to Appomattox Court House continued to decline as businesses moved to the area of the Appomattox Station . The village contained of the original Patteson ' s Clover Hill Tavern property of some . Raine provided the Clover Hill Tavern for meeting space for the organization of the new county in May 1845 and naming the township " Clover Hill . " The county records show : According to a Union writer at the time of the American Civil War the village consisted of about " five houses , a tavern , and a courthouse — all on one street that was boarded up at one end to keep the cows out . " There were actually more dwellings in this obscure hamlet , some of which were off the main village street . There were a large number of cabins and out - buildings . The hamlet had two stores , law offices , a saddler , wheelwright , three blacksmiths , and other businesses . A tavern later had been built by John Raine in 1848 that became the celebrated McLean house . Many rural counties in the Southern States had county seats whose names were formed by adding " court house " ( two words ) to the name of the county , hence the village name became Appomattox Court House . It presently has a couple of dozen restored buildings . Some of the notable buildings are the Peers House , McLean House , New County Jail , Jones Law Office , Clover Hill Tavern , Woodson Law Office , Bocock - Isbell House , Mariah Wright House , Plunkett - Meeks Store , Sweeney - Conner Cabin , Charles Sweeney Cabin , Sweeney Prizery and the Old Appomattox Court House . There are also various ruins and cemeteries within the village . At the time of the Act of Congress that authorized the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park in 1935 the existing buildings were the Clover Hill Tavern , the Tavern guest house and kitchen , the Woodson Law office structure , the Plunkett - Meeks Store , the Bocock - Isbell House , and several residences outside the village limits . There are several markers throughout the field of the village that show points of interest within the Park . Some of these are the sites of General Lee ' s and General Grant ' s headquarters ; the site of the apple tree where General Lee waited for General Grant ' s reply on the morning of April 9 , 1865 ; the line of General Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain ' s brigade drawn up to receive the Confederate arms on April 12 , 1865 ; and the position of the last cannon fired by the Confederate artillery on the morning of April 9 , 1865 . There is also a monument and two tablets that was erected by North Carolina state describing the last engagement of the armies this same morning . General George Armstrong Custer of Little Bighorn fame received a flag of truce at the village of " Appomattox Court House " that brought about the discontinuance of hostilities of the Confederate and the Union armies leading to the surrender meeting between General Lee and General Grant at the McLean House . The program for the development of the Park calls for a partial restoration of Clover Hill and the hamlet of Appomattox Court House to its appearance in April 1865 . This will constitute for the people of the United States a memorial to the termination of the American Civil War . World War II stopped temporarily the development of the Park , however it was resumed in 1947 . Some structures in the village that were built after 1865 were taken down that did not represent a true picture of the end of the Civil War . In 1954 Virginia State Route 24 was relocated south of the Appomattox Court House Historical Park so the National Park Service could restore the Richmond - Lynchburg stage road to its 1865 appearance . Also this would allow the National Park Service to do archeological exploration at the original Appomattox Court House building .