Virginia Blue Ridge Railway

This is the Piney River Depot of the Virginia Blue Ridge Railway, a short-line railroad built in 1915-1916 to transport lumber from industrial sawmills at Woodson and Massies Mill. Steam engines were used until 1963, when the railroad converted to diesel power. The railroad connected with the Southern Railway at Tye River, providing access to national markets. Economic conditions and the chestnut blight caused the two sawmills to shut down by 1924. The establishment of several mineral-processing plants nearby beginning in the 1930s created prosperity for the railroad until these plants closed by 1980. The tracks were removed in the 1980s.