From Past
Stokesville Virginia
To Present
The Chesapeake Western Railway
The Chesapeake Western Railway essentially helped to create the town of Stokesville. With an abundance of natural resources such as timber, bark, coal, and shale industry quickly flourished through railway access. The railway helped to provide a market for these products, sending bark to the tannery in Harrisonburg, VA, lumber to Pennsylvania, and extract fluid to local tannery businesses. With this increase in industry came an increase in population and businesses as men and their families flocked to the small town for well paying jobs.
A 1902 image of the Stokesville engine house and locomotive service facility shows a variety of car types such as a shay geared locomotive on the left, an official Chesapeake Western locomotive in the middle stall, and a cargo car on the right.(Scott Collection)
This timetable, effective June 1, 1930, provides details about the larger Chesapeake Western network, noting stops, miles, and instructions for trains approaching different stops. (Scott Collection)
A smaller "dinky"locomotive helps transport sawn lumber to main Chesapeake Western line so it can be shipped. (Scott Collection)
Before the Chesapeake Western Company completed the passenger depot, this small pavilion served as the main station in Stokesville. (Alan Cramer Collection)
Narrow gauge line transporting a group of people up the line. (Scott Collection)
After several failed railroading ventures, in 1892 the creation of the Chesapeake, Shendun & Western Railroad Company set the development of Stokesville into motion. Although initially meant to travel from Gloucester Point on the Chesapeake Bay to West Virginia, crossing the Shenandoah Valley by way of Shendun (Grottoes) and Brown’s Gap, wheeling and dealing secured the cross point through Elkton and Harrisonburg instead. This change in route resulted in the deletion of Shendun from the name as well as a new charter obtained in 1895, and thus the Chesapeake & Western Railway came to be. Once construction began in Harrisonburg in 1895, people began to understand that it was really happening.
Early History
Albert Troas Michael and co-worker working on locomotive 102 in the Chesapeake Western shop in Stokesville. (Alan Cramer Collection)
This is an early model of the Mack cars the line used for transportation. Later models of the Macks had flatter fronts. (George Best Collection).
This is a railway pass usually given to railway employees that allowed the pass holder to move freely between stations, 1921. (George Best Collection)
(Cramer Collection)
To the left are the company's houses of the Chesapeake Western employees across from one of Stokeville's hotels seen on the right. (Alan Cramer Collection)
The Stokes, The Railroad, and The Town
It was at this point that the city of Stokesville began to take shape. Authorities planned from the beginning for the Chesapeake Western Railway to cross into West Virginia through the North River Gap due to the natural resources of the area, creating ideal access to lumber, tanbark, and coal. Because of this promise, Thomas Stokes, a wealthy man from New York, bought up a larger portion of the Chesapeake Western Railway interest as well as 50, 000 acres in Augusta, Rockingham, and Pendleton counties believing their to be coal deposits on the land. Thomas Stokes quickly set about developing his land, which according to a letter written by his nephew W.E.D. Stokes, Jr., led to the creation of the town of Stokesville. In addition to the town, named in honor of Thomas Stokes, Stokes also established a nearby tan bark extractive plant and the Dora Mine which he named for his wife. Hemorrhaging money due to this less than lucrative deal and the rash spending of his two sons, Thomas Stokes was bailed out by his brother, William Stokes (W.E.D. Stokes), owner of New York’s famous Hotel Ansonia, acquiring all his interest in the railroad and ownership of the land. With control of a majority intrest in the Chesapeake Western and a huge tract of land, W.E.D. Stokes had the power to influence the direction of the Chesapeake Western's western extension from Bridgewater, and it was through his direction that Stokesville became the new western terminus of the Chesapeake Western Railway.