Thaxton is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in western Bedford County,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, United States. The community is located along U.S. Route 460 between

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

and Montvale. It is part of the Lynchburg Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

Thomas Methodist Episcopal Chapel was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 2004. Thaxton was the site of a deadly train accident on July 2, 1889 that killed at least 18 and injured 21. The accident, caused when a passenger train derailed over a section of track that had been washed away by unusually heavy rains, was one of the deadliest railroad accidents in Virginia's history. A memorial was erected later that year in

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

in memory of three of the victims, all from prominent families in that city, who were on their way to attend the

1889 World's Fair The of 1889 (), better known in English as the 1889 Paris Exposition, was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from 6 May to 31 October 1889. It was the fifth of ten major expositions held in the city between 1855 and 1937. It attracted more t ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. A historical marker was placed near the site of the accident in 2015.

Government

The

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the federal governmen ...

operates the Thaxton Post Office within the community, although portions of the community have a Bedford ZIP Code.

Education

The community is served by Bedford County Public Schools. Public school students residing in Thaxton are zoned to attend either Bedford Elementary School or Montvale Elementary School, Liberty Middle School, and Liberty High School. Thaxton Elementary School, an elementary school operated by Bedford County Public Schools, previously served the community before being closed in 2015. The former school site was sold to a private business in 2017. A branch campus of Central Virginia Community College in nearby Bedford is the closest higher education institution to the community.

Infrastructure

The transmitter for the Lynchburg-Roanoke market ABC television network affiliate WSET-TV is located approximately 2.8 miles SSE of the community center.

Public safety

Law enforcement is provided by the Bedford County Sheriff's Office. Fire protection is provided by the Bedford Fire Department and Montvale Volunteer Fire Department.

Emergency medical services Emergency medical services (EMS), also known as ambulance services, pre-hospital care or paramedic services, are emergency services that provide urgent pre-hospital treatment and stabilisation for serious illness and injuries and transport to d ...

are provided by the Montvale Volunteer Rescue Squad and Bedford County Department of Fire and Rescue.

Transportation

Air

The New London Airport is the closest public-use airport to the community. The Lynchburg Regional Airport and Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport are the closest airports with commercial service to the community.

Highways

* U.S. Route 221 (West Lynchburg Salem Turnpike) * U.S. Route 460 (West Lynchburg Salem Turnpike)

Rail

The

Norfolk Southern The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company was formed in 1982 with the merger of the Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. The comp ...

Blue Ridge District runs through the community. The closest passenger rail service is located in Roanoke and Lynchburg.

References

{{Bedford County, Virginia Unincorporated communities in Bedford County, Virginia