Col. Abram Penn (1743-1801)

Just south of here is the site of Poplar Grove, home and burial place of Abram Penn, Revolutionary-era leader. Penn commanded a company during Dunmore's War against the Shawnee in 1774. The next year he was elected to the Pittsylvania County Committee of Safety, charged with enforcing an embargo on trade with Great Britain. He led a company of minutemen in 1776. As colonel and commander of the Henry County militia in 1781, he mustered troops to aid Gen. Nathanael Greene in the Carolinas. Penn was a justice at Henry County’s first court, represented Henry in the Virginia House of Delegates, and helped organize Patrick County.