Earthquakes felt in Mecklenburg
Picture from Virginia Department of Energy website
Many of us living in Virginia remember where we were and what we were doing August 23, 2011 when a 5.7 earthquake was felt all along the east coast. The epicenter was near the town of Mineral, in Louisa County, Virginia. It was the strongest earthquake since the Giles County earthquake 114 years earlier in 1897 which was estimated to be a 5.8-5.9. At the time of the 2011 earthquake, I lived near the Lake Anna nuclear power plant which was temporarily shut down for safety after the quake. I’d previously experienced large earthquakes while living in California and Japan. I was surprised the earthquake was felt so far away from the epicenter. I was driving to the store, and wondered why people were running out of stores holding their phones up in the air, as if to get cell signal. Newspapers in 2011 reported on the 1897 earthquake. Reading more in my newspaper subscriptions, I discovered there were more than 20 other earthquakes that people living in Mecklenburg may have felt.
A map on this page shows the seismic zones of Virginia. Mecklenburg does not have any seismic zones marked, but people living in Mecklenburg have felt earthquakes from the Central Virginia seismic zone and the Giles County seismic zone.
This report details the history of 24 earthquakes above 4.0 in Virginia. The earliest recorded earthquake in Virginia occurred in 1774, and was felt in Mecklenburg.
Buffalo Lithia Springs
Buffalo Lithia Springs was a very well known place for about 70 years. Buffalo Springs included a 1,200 acre resort housing 200 people, a bottling company, and a female academy was also located nearby in the 1820’s. The resort and bottling company became nationally known under Colonel Thomas Goode’s ownership. At the height of it’s popularity, the company was known internationally with bottled water being sold in an estimated 20,000 grocery stores and pharmacies all across the United States, and as far away as Canada and Europe!
See the new page about Buffalo Springs.
Do you know about this store?
I took this picture March 2023, to try and find out what store this was. The location is the corner of White House Road and Old Buffalo Church Road. An Overbey family lived nearby in 1870. Below is a screenshot from Google maps. There is a store in this same place on the 1870 Finch map. Is this the same store? Or was a store rebuilt on the same location? If you know anything, please comment below.
Picture of store from Google maps, photo taken Feb 2025.
1870 Taylor Finch map, Library of Congress Website
Mecklenburg, Virginia Community History 
What do you think?