Gordonville, Virginia: Piedmont crossroads

Gordonsville, on the C&O's Piedmont Subdivision, was (and still is) a fascinating place to watch trains. The town was unique in Virginia as the site where several lines of the same railroad converged, and the railroad was an important part of the town's history.

This article traces the history of Gordonsville, from its origin as a tavern at the crossing of two turnpikes to current revitalization efforts, with an emphasis on the role of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway and its predecessors.

In 1787, Nathaniel Gordon purchased 1,350 acres of land at the crossroads of the Fredericksburg Great Road and the Richmond Road and built his house there. By 1794 he was running a tavern at the site, and it soon became a stage coach stop. The Gordon establishment was famous for its chicken dinners and was once described by President Jefferson as a "good house."

A post office was established there in 1813, with Gordon as the first postmaster. Though Gordon had originally called his plantation Newville, the new Post Office was called Gordonsville.

In February of 1836, an event occurred in neighboring Louisa County that had a profound effect on Gordonsville's fortunes. A charter was granted to build a railroad, called the Louisa Railroad, from a point near Taylorsville on the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac (RF&P) line to Gordonsville.

The Louisa Railroad reached Gordonsville on January 1, 1840. The tracks terminated at the road to Louisa Courthouse, approximately two-thirds of a mile south of the old tavern. Later that year, Robert King (a son-in-law of Nathaniel Gordon) sold two acres of land to the railroad for the construction of a depot and other buildings.' King apparently had big plans for the area around the depot; in 1839 he sold part interest in land adjoining the depot site for a tavern. The County of Orange granted a license to keep a tavern to Richard Omohundro, a railroad contractor who also had a stage stable nearby. This tavern operated until 1859.

The coming of the railroad spurred tremendous growth in the town. It encouraged passenger travel and provided a means of transport for freight and goods. Gordonsville became a center for the farms and plantations of the surrounding countryside. The fertile Green Springs area of Louisa County was close by, and 2.6 million tons of Green Springs produce were loaded onto Louisa Railroad trains at Gordonsville alone in 1842-1843. In addition, the opening of the Blue Ridge and the Rockingham Turnpikes provided access to the railroad for backcountry trade. Farmers from western Virginia brought wagonloads of their produce to Gordonsville for shipment to eastern cities and ports via Louisa Railroad trains.

In 1850, the Louisa Railroad became the Virginia Central (VC). Its passenger and freight depots were near Omohundro's tavern (there is some speculation that the existing C&O freight house may once have been a larger structure that included passenger facilities).

The Orange and Alexandria (0&A) reached Gordonsville in March of 1854. The O&A depot was located at the end of East Street where it terminates at the tracks. By 1860 the two railroads had penetrated western and southern Virginia. The Virginia Central reached west into the Valley of Virginia by way of Charlottesville and Staunton and the O&A ran over VC tracks to Charlottesville and then continued south to Lynchburg.

Gordonsville was now the site of an important rail junction and access to the railroads brought ever more people into the town to work and live. North of the Virginia Central's bridge over Main Street the town was mostly residential. South of the bridge were shops, businesses, the railroad depots, and Omohundro's tavern. The tavern burned in 1859 and was replaced the following year by an ornate hotel that Omohundro called the Exchange Hotel. Located close to the tracks at the south end of Main Street, the Exchange Hotel was an elegant place for Virginia Central travelers throughout much of the 1860s.

As the site of the rail junction, Gordonsville was vital to the South during the Civil War. Confederate troop trains became a common sight in the town. Gordonsville also saw trains carrying wounded soldiers to the Gordonsville Receiving Hospital. From 1862 until 1865, the Exchange Hotel formed the core of this medical facility that treated the wounded from both sides of the conflict. On several occasions, Federal troops attempted to take the town and disrupt Lee's supply lines. Major General A. T A. Torbert led the most determined raid on Gordonsville in December 1862. Torbert's Union troops advanced to within 12 miles of the town. A frantic telegram to Lee in Richmond triggered orders to get troops to Gordonsville at all costs. Observing the buildup of Confederate troops, Torbert withdrew. Despite other attempts to capture the town, Gordonsville remained in Confederate hands throughout the war.

Following the War, Gordonsville's prosperity continued, largely because of its location at the junction of the C&O (formerly the VC) and the Orange, Alexandria & Manassas (formerly the O&A). A new passenger station was built about 1870 to serve both railroads. It was located in the "Y" intersection of the tracks. The station was two stories high with an outside stairway and telegraph office. To accommodate the increasing number of rail passengers, two new hotels were opened. The St. John's Hotel, operated by James Keegan, was in operation by 1870. Magnolia House, located next to the St. John's, was open by 1873.2 Both hotels were level with the tracks and adjacent to the depot. All three hotels did well, though the St John's was, perhaps, the best known. Keegan was a bit of a showman who kept a menagerie and fostered an air of flamboyance at the St. John's Hotel.