Guinea Station

The railroad that prompted growth in Guinea Station still runs next to the Jackson Death Site.

NPS Photo

Quick Facts

Location:

12019 Stonewall Jackson Road, Woodford, VA 22580

Significance:

A historical railroad depot in Caroline County, Virginia.

Amenities

1 listed

Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits

Guinea Station was a small community in Caroline County thrust into the spotlight because of its role as a Confederate supply depot during the Civil War and, subsequently, the location of Confederate General Jackson's death within the community in 1863.

Origins of Guinea Station

The surrounding area was first home to Indigenous people who lived here for thousands of years prior to the arrival of English colonists during the 1600s. When English settlers established the Jamestown colony in 1607, there were seven Indigenous tribes living in what is today Caroline County. In the 1620s, English colonists began pushing westward from Jamestown into present-day Caroline County. As more and more colonists pushed into Indigenous-controlled lands during the mid-1600s, violence broke out between the two groups. In 1677, the Treaty of Middle Plantation weakened the power of Indigenous tribes in eastern Virginia and allowed more settlers to move west

One such settler, Michael Guinney, purchased a tract of land in this area in 1704. Shortly after his arrival, he funded the construction of a bridge near the confluence of the Po and Ni Rivers. A small village, named Guinea, grew around the bridge.

In 1732, a major road, built for the purpose of transporting tobacco, crossed Guinea and brought more travel through the area. Michael Guinney opened a tavern alongside the road in 1735. The tavern served as a place for travelers to stop and socialize. It also served as an early center for the trade of enslaved people in Caroline County. Slave plantations were a critical component of the economy of the area and brought wealth to elite, white colonial landowners who dominated political, economic, and social life in Virginia.

The arrival of the railroad brought more change to Guinea. In 1836, the Richmond, Fredericksburg, & Potomac Railroad (commonly referred to as the RF&P) was completed through Caroline County, connecting the state capitol of Richmond to Aquia Landing on the Potomac River. As a result, the town became known as Guinea Station. The railroad opened up markets and created economic opportunities for plantation owners. In the 1840s, a prominent family, the Chandlers, moved to Guinea Station to take advantage of these opportunities. Unbeknownst to the Chandlers at the time, their new home would become tied up in a bloody civil war that would bring many well-known figures to their doorstep and free the nearly 70 people they enslaved.  

Guinea Station After the War

After the Civil War, the community of Guinea experienced much of the changes that the remainder of the South experienced. Land prices plummeted, Confederate money lost its value, and white landowners had to navigate without enslaved labor for the first time. In Guinea, the physical landscape itself had been altered by years of fighting. Bodies of soldiers who had been buried there during the war were reburied in local cemeteries. Guinea Station was also rebuilt. Formerly enslaved people who remained living in the South turned to the federal government for resources and protection, though sometimes ended up in labor contracts, tied to the same people who had enslaved them before the war.

During the late nineteenth century, Guinea persisted as a small community along the railroad. Located in Guinea at that time were a number of grist mills, dwellings, churches, blacksmith shops, boarding houses, stores, and sawmills, along with the railroad depot and post office. A new passenger station was constructed in 1886. The community experienced industrial growth through the 1920s. However, despite the optimism felt by residents of Guinea at the turn of the century, it never grew into a bustling town due to changes in transportation networks. Once the railroad was replaced by state highways, economic growth in Guinea waned. While Guinea's economy slowed, efforts to memorialize Jackson's death grew.