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A sign dating from World War II warns passengers to be careful about sharing information about troop movements.
John Burke III hopes to turn the interior of the train station into a working space for local artists.
A southbound Amtrak train passes the former Woodford train station and depot. John Burke III has kept the station in good condition.
John Burke III waves to a southbound freight train from the loading dock of the former Woodford train station and depot. Burke's dog Nick rests inside the former freight area. |
FOR THE FREE LANCE-STAR
"Trains used to stop here for passengers and freight all the time," John W. Burke III says of the Woodford train station that his family owns and has renovated.
And now it could be available for use by artists to display or create their artwork.
"We just painted the station--and also the roof--to preserve it," Burke said. "We are currently just using it for storage, but I'd love to see some other use for it, possibly by a community of artists."
The Woodford landmark is the last combination passenger-and-freight train station still standing in Caroline County. In Milford, the century-old freight station has been renovated and remains in use by a business, but the passenger station was torn down years ago.
Once a thriving little Caroline County railroad town off State Route 2, about 15 miles south of Fredericksburg, Woodford is described by James Franklin Taylor, who grew up there, as "a little town that was."
A post office is there, beside the renovated train station, but what used to be the general store is boarded up and little else remains as a reminder of its heyday.
Named in honor of a native son and Revolutionary War hero Gen. William Woodford, the village once had an excelsior mill, a feed and grain store, a pickle factory, a car dealership and a loading platform built to car height.
Woodford nestles along the CSX Transportation tracks that were once part of the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad line. (CSX acquired RF&P in 1991.) The tracks at Woodford date from 1836, according to RF&P Historical Society President Bill Sheild of Fredericksburg, who has posted a brief history of Woodford on the Internet.
Burke's family has lived in the Woodford area of northern Caroline for generations and has owned the train station for decades. He's a lawyer with the Richmond firm of McGuire Woods and specializes in business technology and copyright law. His ancestral home, Braynefield, dates from 1850, according to Caroline economic development and tourism officials.
So how did the family come to buy the train station?
"My grandfather bought it," Burke said. "He was interested in it for its historical value and wanted to preserve it."
RF&P wanted the station moved off its land. "So my father had it moved back from the tracks onto a tract of land owned by the family of my mother, Mary Catherine 'Kitty' Jeter," Burke said.
"So for many years, the Burkes have paid taxes on the train station itself, while the Jeters were taxed on the land it sets on," Burke said.
Now Burke hopes to use the station to foster the arts.
The Bowling Green Town Council has appointed an arts commission, which is expected to meet for the first time toward the end of the month, according to Susan Sili, one of the members.
Bowling Green artist Barbara Byrd said the Woodford train station offers possibilities for artists, but the rural area's sparse population may work against it.
"I think if an artist just needed spaces to create, that would be a wonderful place," she added.
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ON THE NET
For Bill Sheild's history of Woodford, see trainweb.org/rf&p/archive/stations/woodford.htm. |
