It took more than 20 years, but Lee Hall Depot in Newport News is finally reintroducing itself to the public
It’s taken more than 20 years to bring the Lee Hall Depot to this stop — beginning Saturday the fully renovated train station will be open to visitors.
The historic site in Newport News will offer free 30-minute guided tours from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday with a reservation and will offer free admission to the public on Saturdays for the rest of the month.
“We could have done an exhibit or a museum about railroads or about train cars, but what’s really special about this exhibit is that it’s about Lee Hall Village and Warwick County — it’s a building that was really here in the past,” said Anne Miller, superintendent of historic services for the Newport News Parks, Recreation and Tourism department.
The depot, built by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad in 1881, offered passenger service until the late 1970s. The building was used as a maintenance facility until CSX, formerly the C&O Railroad, offered in 1993 to donate the depot to the city if it would move it away from the tracks.
The Lee Hall Train Station Foundation formed in 2000 to assist the city with raising funds to move and restore the train station.
Exterior renovations were completed in 2014, and the foundation moved to restoring the inside and creating exhibits that transformed the depot into a small museum about trains and history in Lee Hall.
“The railroad coming to Warwick County really transformed the area from being super rural to being part of a larger industrial complex,” Miller said. “It connected people to the shipyard and a lot of people in the military passed through here both in World War I and World War II.”
While the inside renovations are complete, Miller estimates the exhibits are only about 60% finished.
The existing exhibits include a period rooms, such as the station master’s living quarters, and interactive element including a children’s area and a locomotive cab simulator.
The unfinished portion will focus on telling personal stories of those who used the railroad, Miller said. There’s no set timeline for when it will be finished — a lot depends on funding — but it’s a ride that will take a least a few more years.
“Everybody is from somewhere. Here at the train station, there’s a story for people who are from somewhere else and a story for people who have lived here all of their lives.” Miller said.
To reserve tickets go to www.eventbrite.com/e/lee-hall-depot-tours-tickets-156744100825
Jessica Nolte, 757-912-1675, jnolte@dailypress.com
