Beach Station
Also known as: Village of Beach; 020-5386
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Why it's listed
Beach Station is a small railway village set back from Beach Road in south-central Chesterfield County, Virginia. Nathaniel B. Perdue and his son George built it around 1890. The eight-acre site holds two houses, a depot, a post office, an outbuilding, two railroad shanties and the brick foundation of a general store. The depot served the Brighthope Railway, a narrow gauge line that grew out of the Clover Hill coal railroad, and later the Farmville & Powhatan and Tidewater & Western companies until 1917. Beach Station is one of only two confirmed surviving stations of twenty original stations and sidings on the Tidewater & Western line in the county, and its post office is the only known nineteenth-century rural post office building left in the county. The buildings are wood-frame with weatherboard siding and metal roofs, and they keep much of their original fabric, including pressed tin interior finishes in the George Perdue House. The store site may also hold archeological evidence about the railroad and coal industries.
Significance in brief: The complex is a rare survivor of a late-nineteenth-century railway village that grew up around the Brighthope Railway and later the Farmville & Powhatan and Tidewater & Western lines. It is significant locally for Transportation and Architecture. It also has potential for archeological study, and its post office is the only known nineteenth-century rural post office building surviving in the county.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 08000067, listed February 22, 2008. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 11410 & 11400 Beach Rd., Chesterfield |
|---|---|
| County | Chesterfield County |
| Listed | February 22, 2008 |
| Reference number | 08000067 |
| Resource type | District |
| Period of significance | 1890-1917 |
| Architect / builder | Perdue, Nathaniel B.; Perdue, George Porter |
| Architectural style | Other: Late 19th and early 20th century Vernacular |
| Criteria |
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| Areas of significance | Transportation, Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Two dwellings, depot, outbuilding, post office and two railroad shanties survive; the general store survives only as a deteriorated brick foundation. The form lists current functions as work in progress, and the owner plans to repair and reinstall historic windows. |
| Acreage | 0.8 |
| Within district | Pocahontas State Park Historic District |
| Coordinates | 37.35579, -77.59463 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
This is a historic district. Buildings within its boundary are either contributing (they add to the district's significance) or non-contributing. Owners of contributing income-producing buildings can claim the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit; homeowners should look at state credits. National Register districts impose no design review by themselves; a local historic district ordinance, if one exists, does (the difference explained).
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 08000067.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q14712004
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.