Country United States County Louisa ZIP code 23024 Elevation 100 m | State Virginia Time zone Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) GNIS feature ID 1464090 Local time Monday 4:07 PM | |
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Weather 16°C, Wind SW at 3 km/h, 43% Humidity | ||
Bumpass is an unincorporated community located primarily in Louisa County, Virginia, United States, but covering a small portion of both Spotsylvania and Hanover Counties as well. It has received moderate fame for its unusual name. Bumpass was named for the Bumpass family (from the French Bon Pas meaning "good step") who lived in the area when it was named. It is known for its many farms, defunct ice cream spoon factory, alpaca ranches, and lumbering operations. It contains most of Lake Anna and several houses and estates from the 18th to early 20th centuries, including Jerdone Castle, a plantation (now lakefront) dating to 1742 that is a Virginia Historic Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historical Places. Also listed is the Duke House. In addition, Bumpass is the home of Argonaut BioFuels, one of the largest biomass-to-energy facilities in the country currently under construction. Alternate names associated with the locality include Bumpas, Bumpass Junction, Bumpass Station, Bumpass Turnout, Jackson District, Northern District, and Second Turnout.
Contents
Map of Bumpass, VA, USA
History
Bumpass is named for Captain John Thomas Bumpass Sr. (1822–1884). "Capt. Tom" was the son of Jack Bumpass (first with this name to settle in the area). He was a captain of the Virginia State Militia who during the Civil War provided fuel and water for troop trains along the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad (then Louisa Railroad). The site of the old Bumpass farm marks the point where the Bumpass community was first sprung from a small hamlet situated along a turnout. Suiting to its original namesake of 2nd Turnout renamed Bumpass' Turnout or later to be known as simply Bumpass. Over the years the area began to expand and grow from one hamlet to a variable of localities such as Buckner and Locust Creek. Like other peculiar named place Bumpass has gathered a moderate reputation for unusualness. It has frequently been the site of a multiple things that are either simply just curious or which are picturesque of such a remote sort of area. Such is the case of the Grasberger Ice Cream Spoon Factory which specialized in the manufacturing of ice cream spoons, paper ice cream plates, and pickle/cocktail forks. It shut down in the 1940s but in 2001 some of Goochland County's "Field Day of the Past" volunteers salvaged much of the Grasberger's old equipment and transported it from Louisa County to Goochland County. There it remains an important part of an exhibit on late 19th century machinery. The nostalgic phrase “George Washington slept here” (a frequent claim to fame by many varying small communities) also applies to this area. As on the night of June 10, 1791, the former President made an overnight visit to Jerdone Castle, located in Bumpass.