Cooperative Living January 2018 - 33

Bumpass
Railroad Depot
Station
" I remember when passenger trains
came through here. I remember the
first living room suite my parents had
came via train and we went [to the
depot] to pick it up, " he adds. " I
remember going with my parents to
pick up [travelers] at the station. The
train made the community bustling. "
Bumpass as a village dates back to
the 1700s and was named for a family
of local landowners. Edwards says,
" Some called it Bum-Pass because
bums got off the trains here, but
that's really just a funny myth. "
No one knows the current
population of Bumpass, an
unincorporated community about
an hour from Richmond just off
Route 33. Postmaster John Nuckols
notes there are 126 post office boxes,
which could be a good indicator;
3,600 customers share a Bumpass
zip code in a postal district that also
includes parts of Hanover and
Spotsylvania counties.
Nuckols, who lives in nearby
Hanover and has been postmaster
since 2015, says, " My father Carlton
Nuckols grew up in this area and
knew everybody in the community. "
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Lifelong resident Bill Diggs, who lives
with wife Ramona in the house where he
was born, says Bumpass is different today.
" There used to be six houses between
my house and the post office, now there
are about 100 houses [in that same
distance], " he explains. " There used to
be mostly little farms here. I've stayed
here because it's the best place in the
world to live! We are fortunate that it's
still right much rural in our area. "
Diggs recalls his wife commuting to
Richmond by train for a job and notes that
electricity changed everything.
'I remember going
with my parents to
pick up [travelers]
at the station. The
train made the
community bustling.'
- Bobby Edwards
" I was 7 years old in 1938 when
electricity came. Many people didn't want
electricity; I remember they said, 'It will
burn your house down!' One old farmer
said every light pole they put on his
property, he would chop down, " Diggs
recalls. " My father agreed to get electricity
but he didn't have the money to get the
house wired at first; that took about six
months. We had two 15-amp circuits. We
got our first refrigerator in 1941; when my
mother got an electric stove, they had to
upgrade the amperage/service [to
accommodate it]. "
Two historic churches anchor Bumpass:
Sharon Christian Church, founded in
1887, and St. Thomas Baptist Church,
established in 1895. Local volunteer Joan
Lassiter, who attends Sharon Christian
Church, notes, " The best way to meet
community-focused people is to find a
welcoming church. "
Lassiter says it was Bobby Edwards,
who also attends Sharon Christian
Church, who first expressed concern that
no one except " old timers " had a clue
where Bumpass is/was, since most physical
remnants of the village no longer exist
(one former store has been renovated
and turned into a private residence).
January 2018 | Cooperative Living | 31
PHOTO COURTESY OF LOUISA COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
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Cooperative Living January 2018

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