Urbanna in Middlesex County, Virginia — The American South (Mid-Atlantic)
Colonial Courthouse
Urbanna, Virginia
The Museum in the Streets
Photographed by Devry Becker Jones (CC0), November 25, 2021
1. Colonial Courthouse Marker
Inscription.
Colonial Courthouse. Urbanna, Virginia. The courtyard of Middlesex County's colonial courthouse was directly behind the brick courthouse building in view from this panel. In the year 1748, the Town of Urbanna became the county seat of Middlsex County. It remained so for 104 years when in 1852 the courthouse was moved to its present location in Saluda. Middlesex County's colonial courthouse still stands on Virginia Street as the Middlesex County Woman's Club building. The courtyard was located behind the courthouse and extended to Prince George Street. The grounds consisted of the courthouse building, a brick clerk's office building, jail, pillory, whipping post and stocks. National and local issues of the times were heard at the courthouse. In sympathy with the 1773 Boston Tea Party, Middlesex Resolutions were drafted and read to the people at the courthouse on July 15, 1774. The resolutions unequivocally staked out the positions of the people of Middlesex County and Urbanna that they would not tolerate taxation without representation. These resolutions, along with those of others in the colonies eventually led to citizen support of an American Revolution. The resolutions came in the aftermath of the imprisonment, in 1772, of the famous Baptist minister John Waller who was jailed in the "town gail" by an Anglican sheriff for preaching the gospel without an Anglican approved license. Waller sparked the town's "Great Religious Awakening" by preaching each day to town people who congregated outside the jail window. After the American victory at Yorktown, the Baptist faith spread like wildfire in Urbanna and Middlesex County.
The courtyard of Middlesex County's colonial courthouse was directly behind the brick courthouse building in view from this panel. In the year 1748, the Town of Urbanna became the county seat of Middlsex County. It remained so for 104 years when in 1852 the courthouse was moved to its present location in Saluda. Middlesex County's colonial courthouse still stands on Virginia Street as the Middlesex County Woman's Club building. The courtyard was located behind the courthouse and extended to Prince George Street. The grounds consisted of the courthouse building, a brick clerk's office building, jail, pillory, whipping post and stocks. National and local issues of the times were heard at the courthouse. In sympathy with the 1773 Boston Tea Party, Middlesex Resolutions were drafted and read to the people at the courthouse on July 15, 1774. The resolutions unequivocally staked out the positions of the people of Middlesex County and Urbanna that they would not tolerate taxation without representation. These resolutions, along with those of others in the colonies eventually led to citizen support of an American Revolution. The resolutions came in the aftermath of the imprisonment, in 1772, of the famous Baptist minister John Waller who was jailed in the "town gail" by an Anglican sheriff for preaching the gospel without an Anglican approved
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license. Waller sparked the town's "Great Religious Awakening" by preaching each day to town people who congregated outside the jail window. After the American victory at Yorktown, the Baptist faith spread like wildfire in Urbanna and Middlesex County.
Erected by The Museum in the Streetsฎ. (Marker Number 1.)
Location. 37° 38.172′ N, 76° 34.489′ W. Marker is in Urbanna, Virginia, in Middlesex County. It is on Cross Street (Virginia Route 227) just south of Virginia Street ( Route 602), on the right when traveling south. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Urbanna VA 23175, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is on Virginia’s Middle Peninsula. It is also in the American South, specifically in the Upper South, in the Tidewater, and in the Chesapeake Bay Region. Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region, North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture, one of the original Thirteen Colonies, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
Credits. This page was last revised on November 17, 2025. It was originally submitted on November 25, 2021, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia. This page has been viewed 418 times since then and 16 times this year. Photos:1, 2. submitted on November 25, 2021, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia.
