In 1874 Lucian Judson Sheffield or L.J. as he was known was the owner/operator of the L.J. Sheffield General Store and local carpenter/cabinet maker. One day Sheffield was approached by a family friend to build a handmade walnut shoulder casket for a recently deceased family member. So, for a fee of twelve dollars Mr. Sheffield constructed his first shoulder casket. From that day forward L.J. Sheffield’s was not only a general store but also a fully “licensed” funeral establishment. The Sheffield Funeral Service was operated out of the general store and Sheffield Family home because due to local customs at the time the body was taken from the home, cleaned up, dressed and casketed and returned to the family’s home for an overnight vigil and next day burial. Up until his death in 1936 Lucian proudly ran the general store and blossoming funeral business with the help of his two children: his daughter, Miss Hattie Sheffield and son, Mr. Bennie “BB” Sheffield.
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Who would have thought that what started out as a favor for a friend would turn into the longest continuously operated business in Nelson County.
After her father’s death in 1936 Miss Hattie now Mrs. Hattie Sheffield Allen decided that she would get her Funeral Director’s License so the business could continue. She would soon become one of if not the first woman in Virginia to hold a Funeral Directors License. For the next fourteen years the Sheffield Children continued in their father’s footsteps operating the funeral home out of the general store until the beginning of 1950 when Bennie Sheffield got the idea that their customers were ready for a stand-alone funeral home. After some convincing Miss Hattie reluctantly agreed and soon began construction on the original Sheffield Funeral Home. The funeral home was constructed on the formerly vacant lot across from the general store and flourished to Mrs. Hattie's surprise.
The next nineteen years were both busy and rewarding for both Hattie and Bennie; but little did they know the Sheffield Funeral Home would soon forever be intertwined with the already rich history of Nelson County. On the night of August 19, 1969 Nelson County faced a disaster of epic proportions. That night the remnants of Hurricane Camille stalled over Nelson and without warning flooded the area with 25-31 inches of rain in a five hour period destroying 100 bridges, 900 buildings, miles of roads and more importantly claimed the lives of at least 114 citizens leaving another 37 missing in the initial count. The final official count was 124 dead leaving 8 to never be identified. The morning after Hurricane Camille the Sheffield family began to dig out of the mud and runoff that was left behind. Damage to the business included downed trees, large mountain rocks, washed up debris and a wall of mud 5 feet high in the general store. Once the properties were deemed usable the Sheffield’s offered their facilities to the state and a temporary disaster response center and surgical tent for autopsies was set up in the open lot behind the funeral home. Using a refrigerated tractor trailer donated by Morton Foods to store the recovered remains the Sheffield Family assisted in the identification, preservation and record keeping for the state’s disaster response. Once the cleanup was completed and Nelson counties recovery began the Sheffield family continued to dedicate themselves to the community at large. Up until her death in 1978 Miss Hattie ran not only the funeral home and general store but also ran the local ambulance service and worked as a dispatcher for the Lovingston Volunteer Fire Department.
After the passing of Hattie Sheffield Allen, the business was sold to the Hill and Wood Funeral Service of Charlottesville. After two years of owning the funeral home and troubles with staffing the decision was made to sell the Sheffield Home once again. In May of 1980 Larry O. Wells purchased the funeral home and changed the name to Wells/Sheffield Funeral Chapel keeping both the Sheffield name and an original Sheffield family member, Bennie on staff. So, with that Mr. Wells looked to build on the proud legacy of the Sheffield Funeral home with the addition of friend David Boor in November of 1980. Over the years the staff of Wells/Sheffield worked tirelessly serving the community in many ways. They would go on to serve multiple terms as President/Vice President of the Lions of Nelson, donate time as volunteer coaches and continued to support various community service organizations in the area. Soon the business would start to outgrow the original Sheffield Funeral Home building and the decision was made to add an additional 1700 Sqft to the building in 1985. However, over the next eight years the business doubled in volume leading Mr. Wells to expand the facilities again in 1993 to the present day 9500 sq. ft. with 3600 sq. ft. of public event space. Mr. Wells would go on to expand the business in 2000 with the addition of David Boor’s oldest son Travis as a Licensed Funeral Service provider, again in 2001 with the addition of Travis’ wife Candice as Office Manager and in 2007 with the addition of David’s wife Christy as Preneed Counselor/Licensed Funeral Service Provider.
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