Disputanta, Virginia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Disputanta is an unincorporated community in Prince George County, Virginia, United States in the Richmond-Petersburg region and is a portion of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The postal ZIP Code of Disputanta, Virginia is 23842.
[edit] History
Popular legend has it that William Mahone (1826-1895), builder of the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad (now Norfolk Southern), and his cultured wife, Otelia Butler Mahone (1837-1911), traveled along the newly completed Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad naming stations. Otelia was reading Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott. From his historical Scottish novels, Otelia chose the place names of Wakefield as well as Windsor and Waverley. She tapped the Scottish Clan "McIvor" for the name of Ivor, a small town in neighboring Southampton County.
As they continued west, they reached a station in Prince George County where they could not agree on a suitable name from the books. Instead, they became creative, and invented a new name in honor of their dispute. This is how the tiny community of Disputanta 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. Highway 460 between Petersburg and Suffolk is named General Mahone Boulevard in his honor.
|
|||||||||||
