Bear Creek, NC

History

Bear Creek appears to be just a station stop on the CF main line, despite having a depot. It is an unincorporated area in southwest Chatham County named after the nearby creek. Bear Creek was originally named Richmond after Richard Jones who opened a business in Bear Creek in 1885. Other than this from the Chatham County Chamber of Commerce, I have not found out much about its history at this point.

The ICC valuation reports indicate that there is a depot. Unfortunately, I do not have dimensions and/or drawings of this station. In addition to the depot, there were two section houses (see large version of track diagram for relative locations).

The 1916 ICC valuation fills in the depot Bear Creek’s photographs do not. It was a standard Type 3 combination station, 30 by 50 feet with a small 3-by-9-foot bay at the ticket office, recorded as “identical in every respect” to the station just up the line at Ore Hill. A high wood platform wrapped all the way around, and the chert passenger platform was laid a full foot thick. The section layout was modest but oddly well-supplied with outbuildings — two standard dwellings and no fewer than four small sheds — and the scrap bin, the surveyors noted, was built of old bridge stringers.

Track Diagram

An image from the ICC valuation maps gives a fair idea of how the track and depot were laid out.

Industries

A Southern Railway Shippers Guide from 1916 does not have any record of an industry at Bear Creek using the A&Y for delivering and receiving products by rail.

Odds and Ends

I don’t know anything much about Bear Creek. If you know anything about this town or the businesses and industries that might have used the railroad for shipping or receiving products, please let me know.