The first railroad depot at Beaver Dam was built about1840 to serve the farmers of Hanover and Louisa counties. Its strategic location during the Civil War made it the target of many Union raids. The July 20, 1862, raid saw the depot burned and Colonel John S. Mosby, the Gray Ghost, captured as he awaited a train to take him to General Stonewall Jackson.
Rebuilt after this raid, the depot was again burned by Union troops on February 29, 1864, and May 9, 1864, the last time by the cavalry of General George A. Custer. The existing depot was rebuilt and rededicated in 1866.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. The interior is divided into two waiting rooms (one for whites and one for blacks), an office, a baggage room and a freight room—all remarkably intact. It was sold to a preservation group in 1987.
Beaver Dam is approximately 40 miles west of RichmondVirginia. The station name is taken from the plantation of Col. Edmund Fontaine, once a president of the railroad. The plantation itself was named for the creek which bisected it.
