Waverly, Virginia


Waverly is an incorporated town in Sussex County, Virginia, United States. The population was 2,149 at the 2010 census.

History

Popular legend has it that William Mahone, builder of the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad, and his cultured wife, Otelia Butler Mahone, 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 was named. 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. They are Junius Edgar West, Delegate and Senator ; Thomas H. Howerton, Delegate ; William O. Rogers, Senator ; Garland "Peck" Gray, Senator ; and Elmon T. Gray, Senator.
The Miles B. Carpenter House, Hunting Quarter, and Waverly Downtown Historic District are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
On February 24, 2016, an EF1 tornado touched down in Waverly, killing three, as verified by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. The storm also caused significant damage to the town. This was all part of a massive storm system that moved rapidly across the region.

Lynching of James Jordan

One of the last lynchings in Virginia happened in Waverly, on March 18, 1925. The victim, James Jordan, was a black employee at the Gray lumber mill, the town's largest employer, who after being identified by a foremen, had been arrested at the mill and jailed for allegedly attacking a married white woman and stealing a pistol belonging to her husband. Word of the alleged attack spread through Waverly and the surrounding countryside and an armed mob of approximately 500 people had descended on the jail and overcame the sheriff and his deputies, seized Jordan and marched him through the main street in Waverly to the railroad depot where he was strung up a tree and shot multiple times, before his corpse was set on fire in full view of passengers on a Norfolk and Western train that pulled into the station during the macabre proceeding. A coroner's jury convened the next morning only to learn that overnight the body had been stolen and dumped about 25 miles away near the town of Windsor
The following day, Governor of Virginia, E. Lee Trinkle arrived in Waverly and admonished an assembled group of citizens to preserve order and said he deplored the fact that a mob had taken a human life in town without due process of law. A Richmond Times Dispatch report quoted Trinkle: “Virginia’s record has been virtually washed clean of mob actions, I exhort you that the name of the Commonwealth not be brought again into the limelight of such publicity as she has received from this occurrence,” added the governor.
Despite the Governor's admonishment, the following week the Waverly newspaper ran an unapologetic editorial complaining about "an enormous amount of unfavorable publicity for Sussex County and the town of Waverly in particular, although it is likely that the same thing would have taken place in any other town or county in Virginia under similar provocation and circumstances.” It continued: “Now that the lynching has taken place and cannot be recalled, it should, and perhaps will, serve as an object lesson to the colored men of the ‘Black Belt’."
The negative publicity surrounding the event and the lynching of another black man in the Southwest Virginia town of Wytheville in 1926 ultimately led to the passage of the Virginia Anti-Lynching Law of 1928 by the Virginia General Assembly. Among other provisions, the law gave the state the power to enforce stiff penalties against localities that didn't report vigilante murders. Signed into law by Virginia governor Harry Flood Byrd Sr. on March 14, 1928, this legislation was the first measure in the United States that defined lynching specifically as a state crime.

Geography

Waverly is located at .
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 3.1 square miles, all of it land.

Demographics

As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 2,149 people living in the town. The racial makeup of the town was 64.7% Black, 29.8% White, 0.0% Native American, 0.5% Asian, 0.0% from some other race and 1.1% from two or more races. 3.9% were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
As of the census of 2000, there were 2,309 people, 880 households, and 570 families living in the town. The population density was 752.6 people per square mile. There were 960 housing units at an average density of 312.9 per square mile. The racial makeup of the town was 36.73% White, 61.76% African American, 0.13% Native American, 0.04% Asian, 0.48% from other races, and 0.87% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.17% of the population.
There were 880 households out of which 29.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.1% were married couples living together, 20.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.2% were non-families. 31.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.09.
In the town, the population was spread out with 25.4% under the age of 18, 6.0% from 18 to 24, 26.6% from 25 to 44, 23.4% from 45 to 64, and 18.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 88.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.4 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $33,698, and the median income for a family was $39,792. Males had a median income of $27,414 versus $21,279 for females. The per capita income for the town was $14,848. About 11.7% of families and 15.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 21.4% of those under age 18 and 17.7% of those age 65 or over.

Government and infrastructure

The Virginia Department of Corrections operates the Sussex I State Prison and the Sussex II State Prison in unincorporated Sussex County, near Waverly. The Sussex I center houses the male death row. On August 3, 1998, the male death row moved to its current location from the Mecklenburg Correctional Center.

Notable people