Old Postcards: Amherst Court House, Virginia

I like collecting old postcards of place or events of relevance to my ancestors.  Here is the image I found on USGenWeb Archive of one of the first postcards I purchased:

Postcard with street scene of Amherst Court House, Virginia; image fromm
USGenWeb Archives of one in my collection.

My three times grandfather, John William Jennings, Sr., moved his family to Amherst County in the 1830s. His grandson, and my great grandfather, enlisted in the 19th Virginia Regiment on 1 March 1862 at Amherst Courthouse not long after turning 18 years old. It is a place name that appeared on countless census documents bearing the Jennings surname. Descendants of John William Jennings, Sr. live in Amherst County to this day.

Amherst County was formed in 1761 out of Albemarle County and named in honor of Lord Jeffry Amherst, the Conqueror of Canada. In 1807, the size of the county was reduced when Nelson County was formed. The majority of people who lived in the county in the early days were farmers and the cash crop was tobacco.