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Former depot gets new home, mission
Gordonsville's old rail freight depot moved, with plans to convert it to tourism use.Date published: 4/10/2004
You've got to hand it to those historic-preservation folks. Someone offers them something old and they'll take it--even if it means that they have to pick it up and tote it home. Easier said than done, especially when the relic being offered is a 75-foot-long freight-depot building that is not in very good shape. CSX, the freight line that runs through the town of Gordonsville (but doesn't stop there anymore), wanted to tear down the old eyesore. But the company agreed to give it away--on the condition that it be moved at least 50 feet away from the railroad tracks. Historic Gordonsville Inc., the nonprofit group that owns and operates the Exchange Hotel next door to the old depot, wanted the building. So it worked with the town of Gordonsville, whose leaders want to promote tourism and civic attractiveness, to secure a federal grant to move the depot 125 feet to its new home. That happened this week. Inch by inch, Ayers House Movers of Fredericksburg dragged the creaky old depot from its former location at the edge of the railroad tracks to a site a bit closer to the Exchange Hotel. Sharon Compton, an anthropologist who is vice president of Historic Gordonsville Inc., was one of many interested spectators. She explained that HGI operates the old Exchange Hotel as a Civil War museum that focuses on medical history. It was built in 1860, she said, as a hotel to serve railroad passengers. It got its name from its being located where the north-south and east-west rail lines crossed and passengers exchanged one train for another. That's also one of the reasons the town of Gordonsville has always been known as a crossroads town. The Confederate Army thought the hotel would be a great spot for a receiving hospital and before the war was over 75 additional structures were built on the grounds to care for the wounded. None of those still exist, but excavation is planned for the future. By 1973, passenger service through Gordonsville (Richmond to Charlottesville and Orange to Charlottesville) was dropped and only freight service survived. In time, even the freight trains quit stopping. The passenger depot had been torn down and the freight depot was next on the list. Railroad history was fast leaving Gordonsville. But the depot has been saved and Historic Gordonsville Inc. has big plans for the building. It will rebuild the old depot and use the space for offices, a gift shop and exhibit space. The group hopes the depot will focus attention on the town's railroad history. To reach ROBIN KNEPPER: rknepper@earthlink.net
Date published: 4/10/2004
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