240 E Main St, Waverly, VA 23890. $49,900 Sold

Exterior featured at 240 E Main St, Waverly, VA 23890

OHU50K NOTES

This cheap old house is a fixer upper in Waverly, Virginia (pop. 2,149), a small town with an interesting history just 80 minutes west of Virginia Beach.

History

Per Wikipedia:

Popular legend has it that William Mahone (1826–1895), builder of the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad and his cultured wife, Otelia Butler Mahone (1837–1911), traveled along the newly completed Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad naming stations. Otelia was reading “Ivanhoe,” a book written by Sir Walter Scott. 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. When they could not agree, it is said that they invented a new name in honor of their dispute, which is how the tiny community of Disputanta a few miles west of Waverly. The N&P railroad was completed in 1858.

William Mahone became a Major General in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, and later, a Senator in the United States Congress. A large portion of U.S. Route 460 between Petersburg and Suffolk is named in his honor.

Waverly is the second largest of the towns Gen. Mahone founded. Waverly has supplied the most state senators and delegate members to the Virginia General Assembly of any Virginia town under 3,000 people.