Christiansburg (Cambria) station

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Hello, Ned:

Thanks for the article.  I stopped by in 2007 and met Mr. Dorsett.  They constructed an apartment within the east end of the freight room.  He was successful in having the structure added to the National Historic Register even though it is on Norfolk Southern leased land.

Happy holidays,

Frank

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A look inside Christiansburg’s Cambria depot

The Dorsett family bought the train depot back in 1983, following a 20-year period as a storage facility for local companies 0 Ratings | 104 
By Chris Whitley | Digital Journalist 
Published: November 24, 2009 
Updated: November 25, 2009 

CHRISTIANSBURG - Originally this area was known as Bangs.  Then sometime in the 1870’s it was changed to Ronald after a Civil War hero from Blacksburg.  They they thought Ronald was not a good name for a town, and named it Cambria.

Now a part of Christiansburg, Cambria is the home of a historic train depot.  It was originally built in 1868, then converted from a passenger station to a freight station in 1906.  Nearly all of the freight traffic for Montgomery County and Floyd County came through the depot, according to Megan Dorsett.

Her family bought the train depot back in 1983, following a 20-year period as a storage facility for local companies.  The Dorsetts turned the renovation of the depot into a labor of love.

“You do not do it for financial gain.  Nobody who does historical preservation is making a lot of money off it,“ Dorsett told me.  “For my parents, they bought it because my mother believed young parents should be able to bring their kids here and say, this is what a train station looked like,“ Dorsett added.

The building still maintains much of teh original materials from more than a century ago.  On the wall, you’ll find grafitti left by former workers.

Today, the building serves as a work space for Dorsett Publication, a toy store where the money raised helps buy paint for the building, and even a home for Megan.

But perhaps its most important purpose, a Cambria Museum.

“A history of a people who live in a place.  Tells the story of how a place developed, on a base level,“ Dorsett says.

Source:
http://www2.wsls.com/sls/news/local/new_river_valley/article/a_look_inside_christiansburg_cambria_depot/64515/

As of: December 1, 2009