Battle of Totopotomoy Creek

The Polegreen Church, also known as the Hanover Meeting House (and locally as the "ghost church"), is the site of what may be the first non-Anglican church in Virginia. It was named after a 17th-century landowner, George Polegreen.After Rev. George Whitefield preached at Bruton Parish Church at Williamsburg during the First Great Awakening, and his sermons were published, local mason Samuel Morris built a reading room or log cabin near Mechanicsville in rural Hanover County. In 1743, Virginia's colonial assembly permitted religious dissenters four meeting houses: three in Hanover County (including this one) and one in Henrico County; they were sometimes called "Morris churches".Pennsylvania Presbyterian missionary Samuel Davies, one of the first non-Anglican ministers licensed in Virginia, evangelized in Hanover County and used this as his base from 1743 to 1759. Patrick Henry attended services here with his mother, and credited Davies for his oratorical skills. In 1755, Davies helped organize what came to be known as the Hanover Presbytery, encompassing all Presbyterian ministers in Virginia and North Carolina. He also became known for writing hymns, and for educating slaves (unlike Methodist and Baptist evangelists). During the American Civil War, battle lines formed on opposite sides of Totopotomoy creek during the 1864 Overland Campaign as the Union army advanced on Richmond. Polegreen Church stood between them. A Confederate artillery shell fired to dislodge Union sharpshooters by a man whose father had been baptized at Polegreen hit the wooden building, which burned to the ground. The congregation could not afford to rebuild it.An open-air design of steel beams painted white to show the historic structure's former dimensions has been erected at the site, along with a visitor center and signage concerning religious persecution and freedom in Western civilization. The site now hosts various lectures (including on religious freedom in Virginia), as well as weddings and other private functions. The Polegreen Church site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. It is open to the public free of charge.

Pine Slash, also known as Prospect Hill, is a historic home located at Studley, Hanover County, Virginia. The main house was built about 1750, and is a one-story dwelling of colonial vertical plank construction with a metal gable roof. In addition to the main house, the property includes a contributing second residence and a brick outbuilding, both dating from the early 19th century. Pine Slash is also significant as American Founding Father Patrick Henry's home in the 1750s.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.

The Birthplace of Patrick Henry (1736–1799), the Founding Father and American statesman from Virginia, was a farmhouse called "Studley", located in what is now the village of Studley in Hanover County, Virginia. The house, a two-story brick structure, was built in the 1720s by John Symes, whose wife Sarah married Patrick Henry's father John after Symes died. Patrick Henry was born in the house on May 29, 1736. By 1796 the farmstead included a significant number of outbuildings. The house was destroyed by fire in 1807, and now only archaeological remnants remain.There is an interpretive plaque near the site at 9620 Studley Farms Drive. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

Laurel Meadow is a historic home located near Mechanicsville, Hanover County, Virginia. It was built about 1820, and is a 1+1⁄2-story, hall-parlor-plan house in the Federal style. The house sits on a brick foundation, has a gable roof with dormers, and exterior end chimneys. Also on the property are a contributing one-room schoolhouse and a barn.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.

Studley is an unincorporated community in Hanover County, Virginia, United States. Studley is 12 miles (19 km) northeast of downtown Richmond. Studley has a post office with ZIP code 23162.Patrick Henry's Birthplace Archeological Site, Pine Slash, Totomoi, Williamsville, and Wyoming are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Battle of Haw's Shop or Enon Church was fought on May 28, 1864, in Hanover County, Virginia, as part of Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Overland Campaign against Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia during the American Civil War. Grant abandoned the stalemate following the Battle of North Anna (May 23–26) by once again swinging widely around Lee's right flank, using the Pamunkey River to screen his movements to the southwest. Lee's army moved directly south and took up positions on the southern bank of Totopotomoy Creek. The Confederate general sent a cavalry force under Maj. Gen. Wade Hampton to collect intelligence about Grant's next moves. On May 28, Hampton's troopers encountered Union cavalry under Brig. Gen. David McM. Gregg. Fighting predominately dismounted and utilizing earthworks for protection, neither side achieved an advantage. Gregg was reinforced by two brigades of Brig. Gen. Alfred T.A. Torbert's division, and the brigade under Brig. Gen. George A. Custer launched a spirited attack just as Hampton was ordering his men to withdraw. The seven-hour battle was inconclusive, but it was the second significant cavalry engagement of the Overland Campaign and one of the bloodiest of the war. Both sides claimed victory. Union Cavalry Corps commander Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan bragged that his men had driven Hampton from the field and demonstrated the superiority of the Union cavalry. But Hampton had held up the Union cavalry for seven hours, prevented it from achieving its reconnaissance objectives, and had provided valuable intelligence to General Lee about disposition of Grant's army.

The Battle of Cold Harbor was fought during the American Civil War near Mechanicsville, Virginia, from May 31 to June 12, 1864, with the most significant fighting occurring on June 3. It was one of the final battles of Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Overland Campaign, and is remembered as one of American history's most unnecessary and lopsided battles. Thousands of Union soldiers were killed or wounded in a hopeless frontal assault against the fortified positions of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's army. On May 31, as Grant's army once again swung around the right flank of Lee's army, Union cavalry seized the crossroads of Old Cold Harbor, about 10 miles northeast of the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, holding it against Confederate attacks until the Union infantry arrived. Both Grant and Lee, whose armies had suffered enormous casualties in the Overland Campaign, received reinforcements. On the evening of June 1, the Union VI Corps and XVIII Corps arrived and assaulted the Confederate works to the west of the crossroads with some success. On June 2, the remainder of both armies arrived and the Confederates built an elaborate series of fortifications 7 miles long. At dawn on June 3, three Union corps attacked the Confederate works on the southern end of the line and were easily repulsed with heavy casualties. Attempts to assault the northern end of the line and to resume the assaults on the southern were unsuccessful. Although he was far more optimistic at the time, Grant said of the battle in his Personal Memoirs, "I have always regretted that the last assault at Cold Harbor was ever made. ... No advantage whatever was gained to compensate for the heavy loss we sustained." In fact, he was thinking about another attack two days later. The armies confronted each other on these lines until the night of June 12, when Grant again advanced by his left flank, marching to the James River. In the final stage, Lee entrenched his army within besieged Petersburg before finally retreating westward across Virginia.

Mechanicsville High School (formerly Lee-Davis High School) is a public high school located in Mechanicsville, Virginia, United States. It serves students in grades 9 through 12 and is part of Hanover County Public Schools.

Cold Harbor National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery in Mechanicsville, Hanover County, Virginia. It encompasses 1.4 acres (5,700 m2), and as of the end of 2005, had 2,110 interments. Administered by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, it is managed by the Hampton National Cemetery.

Cold Harbor is an unincorporated community in Hanover County, Virginia. The Battle of Cold Harbor was fought in the area in 1864, during the American Civil War.

Oakley Hill is a historic plantation house located near Mechanicsville, Hanover County, Virginia. It was built about 1839 and expanded in the 1850s. It is a two-story, frame I-house dwelling in the Greek Revival style. On the rear of the house is a 1910 one-story ell. The house sits on a brick foundation, has a standing seam metal low gable roof, and interior end chimneys. The front facade features a one-story front porch with four Tuscan order columns and a Tuscan entablature. Also on the property are a contributing smokehouse and servants' house.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.

Oak Forest is a historic home located near Mechanicsville, Hanover County, Virginia. It was built about 1828, and is a two-story, five-bay, frame I-house dwelling in the Federal style. The house sits on a brick foundation, has a standing seam metal gable roof, and exterior end chimneys. Also on the property is a contributing smokehouse.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.