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020-5386

Beach Station

VLR Listing Date

12/05/2007

NRHP Listing Date

02/22/2008

NRHP Reference Number

08000067

Through its collection of late-19th-century railroad buildings, Beach Station in Chesterfield County constituted a rare surviving example of a village type once common throughout the United States. Constructed in 1890, the buildings were on the Brighthope Mining Company line, the first railway developed to transport coal between the Clover Hill mines and Chester Station in the county. Over time, the Brighthope company expanded its business to include the transport of lumber, farm produce, and passengers. The Farmville and Powhatan Railway, and its successor, the Tidewater and Western Railway, also operated from Beach Station, until the station closed in 1917. By the beginning of the 21st century, the complex consisted of a former post office, railway depot and railway shanties, a general store, and two houses built by the Perdue family, who owned the property. The post office was the only known surviving 19th-century post office in Chesterfield County. Beach Station represented an important vestige of the county’s transportation-related past and its coal mining heritage, which traces back to the mid-18th-century.

The nomination for Beach Station was updated in 2010, and the boundaries were decreased from 8 acres to 0.8-acre. The depot, post office, telegraph office and two railway shanties were moved to the rear of the George Perdue House, with all but the telegraph office arranged in a line.  All were in advanced stages of decay and were placed on improved foundation, with additional rehabilitation work being planned for each.  The site of the former GP Perdue Store was excluded from the newly nominated boundary for Beach Station.
[NRHP Approved: 3/24/2010]

Beach Station was repurposed as a childcare center early in the 2020’s. The George Perdue House and the Perdue-Mitchell House are all that remain of the historic buildings located on the property.

Last Updated: June 14, 2024

Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.

Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark

For additional information Read

Nomination Form

2010 Update and Boundary Decrease Nomination

020-0122

Kingsland (Richmond View)

"Virginia's Lost" Delisted Landmarks

020-0337

Fuqua Farm

Chesterfield (County)

020-5370

Prehistoric and Historic Resources, Bermuda Hundred MPD

(MPD) Multiple Property Document