Beaverdam Depot | |
 Beaverdam Depot in Winter | |
   | |
| Location | On C & O RR tracks at jct. of VA 715 and 739, Beaverdam, Virginia |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 37°56′27″N77°39′15″W / 37.94083°N 77.65417°W |
| Area | less than one acre |
| Built | 1866 |
| Architectural style | Late Victorian |
| NRHP reference No. | 88002060 [1] |
| VLR No. | 042-0081 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | November 8, 1988 |
| Designated VLR | April 19, 1988 [2] |
Beaverdam Depot is a historic railway depot located at Beaverdam, Hanover County, Virginia.
The Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad built a station at Beaverdam on its Louisa line at some time between 1836 and 1840. The railroad's president, Edward Fontaine, lived nearby. The 36 mile Louisa branch connected Louisa with Hanover Junction. Louisa County farmers could thus ship their produce to the port at Aquia on the Potomac River as well as to Richmond, Virginia. During the 1840s, the Commonwealth of Virginia helped finance extension of this branch westward over the Blue Ridge Mountains to Covington in Allegheny County. [3] In 1850 the railroad line's name was changed the Virginia Central Railroad. [4]
The station and railroad proved strategic during the American Civil War, both for troop movement and for transport and storage of military supplies. The wood frame depot changed hands and was destroyed at least three times. On July 20, 1862, John Mosby was captured by Union cavalry under Brigadier General Rufus King while waiting for a train. Later versions of the incident disagree as to whether Mosby was trying to convey information to his commander, General Stonewall Jackson in Richmond, or taking brief leave toward his parents' home in Lynchburg, Virginia, but all agree that Mosby was soon released as part of the war's first prisoner exchange, as well as that the Union raiders burnt the depot to destroy supplies, as well as cut the strategic telegraph line. [5]
By the war's end only 5 miles of Virginia Central tracks remained usable. [3] The Beaverdam station and associated warehouse were among the railroad's first five rebuilt structures; the current station was completed in 1866. The Virginia Central Railroad continued expanding and by the 1880s became part of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad system. The segregated waiting room was constructed around 1910, after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Chiles v. Chesapeake & Ohio Railway, since Virginia's legislature required segregation of white and "colored" passengers after the Plessy v. Ferguson decision in 1896 allowed "separate but equal" facilities. [6]
The single-story, rectangular, gable roofed brick building features decorative brickwork, including corbelling and pilasters. The front facade includes a small pedimented porch supported by turned wood columns. The interior is divided into two waiting rooms (one for whites and one for blacks), an office, a baggage room and a freight room—all remarkably intact. [7]
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. [1]
Louisa is a town in Louisa County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,555 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Louisa County.
Thurmond is a town in Fayette County, West Virginia, United States, on the New River. The population was five at the 2020 census. During the heyday of coal mining in the New River Gorge, Thurmond was a prosperous town with a number of businesses and facilities for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway.
Gordonsville is a town in Orange County in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Located about 19 miles northeast of Charlottesville and 65 miles northwest of Richmond, the population was 1,496 at the 2010 census.
Point of Rocks is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Frederick County, Maryland. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 1,466.
Doswell is an unincorporated community in Hanover County in the Central Region of the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. Originally called Hanover Junction, it was located on the Virginia Central Railroad at a crossing of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad, a north–south route. Both railroads are now owned by CSX Transportation, although the former Virginia Central line is leased to a short-line carrier, Buckingham Branch Railroad. The area near the Doswell train station is a popular train-watching site for railfans.
The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis P. Huntington, it reached from Virginia's capital city of Richmond to the Ohio River by 1873, where the railroad town of Huntington, West Virginia, was named for him.
The Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad was a railroad connecting Richmond, Virginia, to Washington, D.C. The track is now the RF&P Subdivision of the CSX Transportation system; the original corporation is no longer a railroad company.
The Orange and Alexandria Railroad (O&A) was a railroad in Virginia, United States. Chartered in 1848, it eventually extended from Alexandria to Gordonsville, with another section from Charlottesville to Lynchburg. The road played a crucial role in the American Civil War, saw the first of many mergers in 1867, and eventually became an important part of the modern-day Norfolk Southern rail system.
The Virginia Central Railroad was an early railroad in the U.S. state of Virginia that operated between 1850 and 1868 from Richmond westward for 206 miles (332 km) to Covington. Chartered in 1836 as the Louisa Railroad by the Virginia General Assembly, the railroad began near the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad's line and expanded westward to Orange County, reaching Gordonsville by 1840. In 1849, the Blue Ridge Railroad was chartered to construct a line over the Blue Ridge Mountains for the Louisa Railroad which reached the base of the Blue Ridge in 1852. After a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court, the Louisa Railroad was allowed to expand eastward from a point near Doswell to Richmond.
The James River and Kanawha Canal was a partially built canal in Virginia intended to facilitate shipments of passengers and freight by water between the western counties of Virginia and the coast. Ultimately its towpath became the roadbed for a rail line following the same course.
The Western Maryland Railway was an American Class I railroad (1852–1983) that operated in Maryland, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. It was primarily a coal hauling and freight railroad, with a small passenger train operation.
Williams Carter Wickham was a Virginia lawyer and politician. A plantation owner who served in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly, Wickham also became a delegate to the Virginia Secession Convention of 1861, where he voted against secession, but after fellow delegates and voters approved secession, he joined the Confederate States Army and rose to the rank of cavalry general, then became a Confederate States Congressman near the end of the American Civil War. Later, Wickham became a Republican and helped rebuild Virginia's infrastructure after gaining control of the heavily damaged Virginia Central Railroad, which he repaired and helped merge into the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway company. Cooperating with financier Collis Huntington, Wickham developed coal resources and the Newport News Shipyard. He was also again elected to the Virginia Senate. His son Henry T. Wickham also became a lawyer and would work with his father and eventually twice become the speaker pro tempore of the Virginia Senate.
Richmond Main Street Station, officially the Main Street Station and Trainshed, is a historic railroad station and office building in Richmond, Virginia. It was built in 1901, and is served by Amtrak. It is also an intermodal station with Richmond's city transit bus services, which are performed by Greater Richmond Transit Company (GRTC). It is colloquially known by people from the city as The Clock Tower. It is a U.S. National Historic Landmark. Main Street Station serves as a secondary train station for Richmond providing limited Amtrak service directly to downtown Richmond. Several Amtrak trains serving the Richmond metropolitan area only stop at the area's primary rail station, Staples Mill Road which is located five miles to the north in Henrico County.
Beaverdam is a small unincorporated community in Hanover County in the central region of the U.S. state of Virginia. The community was named after the beaver dams in the area.
Buckingham Branch Railroad is a Class III short-line railroad operating over 275 miles (443 km) of historic and strategic trackage in Central Virginia. Sharing overhead traffic with CSX and Amtrak, the company's headquarters are in Dillwyn, Virginia in the former Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad (C&O) station, itself a historic landmark in the community. The railroad was featured in the January 2012 issue of Trains Magazine. It is referenced in the How It’s Made episode “Railway Bridge Ties”, showing it crossing a curved bridge.
Thurmond station is a train station in Thurmond, West Virginia, United States, that is served by Amtrak, the national railroad passenger system. The Cardinal, which runs three times each week between Chicago, Illinois and New York City, New York, passes by the station three times each week in both directions. The station is on CSX Transportation's New River Line and is located on the east bank of the New River.
The Peninsula Extension which created the Peninsula Subdivision of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) was the new railroad line on the Virginia Peninsula from Richmond to southeastern Warwick County. Its principal purpose was to provide an important new pathway for coal mined in West Virginia to reach the harbor of Hampton Roads for coastal and export shipping on collier ships.
Lee Hall Depot is a historic train station and museum located in the Lee Hall neighborhood of Newport News, Virginia. It was built in about 1881, with a one-story cargo bay, and the two-story main section was added in 1893. Another one-story wing was added by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway to the north end of the depot in 1918 to handle an influx of military personnel to Fort Eustis. The building is currently in use as a local history museum, focusing on the station's history, and the history of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad in Warwick County.
Diascund was a railway stop, unincorporated community, and post office in Virginia located at milepost 47 on the Peninsula Extension of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway in James City County. When this rail line was built in 1881, stations were established every few miles. To the west was the Lanexa station, and four miles to the east, Toano. The depot was east of the railroad’s crossing of Diascund Creek near the current Diascund Road. Along with other depots along the route, such as the surviving Lee Hall Depot, the Diascund depot was constructed in 1881 or shortly thereafter. By 1916 its board-and-baton siding it was painted in the "Colonial Buff" color scheme. The one-story depot was still standing in 1969. By 2008, it had been destroyed.
| Preceding station | Chesapeake and Ohio Railway | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tyler toward Cincinnati | Main Line | Hewlett toward Old Point Comfort | ||
