The Amherst Depot is the home of the county's official Visitor Center. The Amherst Depot was built in 1913 by the Southern Railway when it took over the O&A and expanded its operation in Amherst County. Southern Railway contracted with Pettyjohn Company in nearby Lynchburg to construct a new passenger station, costing $4,712. The depot’s construction of longleaf pine siding and a red tile roof was the typical architectural style of the early railroad stations. A ticket booth extended outward from the center facing the tracks with waiting rooms on each. Until the 1940s three passenger trains a day stopped at this depot. Freight pick up and drop off ended in the mid-1970s. Mail exchange was still available by train at Amherst– called mail on-the-fly by tossing out the outgoing mail and at the same time grabbing the catcher pouch on the mail crane. Train mail service would end in 1977. The depot then saw no action until 1985 when it passed into the private ownership of Marshall Mays, owner of Mays Farmers Service Co. in Amherst, for storage purposes. Mr. Mays’ agreement with Norfolk Southern (in whom Southern Railway merged in 1982) was that once he stopped using the depot, it had to be moved or torn down since he did not own the land it sat upon. In the spring of 1995 Mr. Mays, offered the depot to the Amherst County Chamber of Commerce as well as this .62 acre it now rests upon, approximately one quarter mile from its original location on Depot Street to the current address on Richmond Hwy in 2008. Fortune has smiled upon the depot, restored by the County of Amherst and, most fittingly, still standing near the train tracks. The depot is alive once again with activity and a renewed purpose to serve visitors and area residents.
