McKenney, VA

McKenney is an incorporated Dinwiddie County town with 457 residents in the 2020 census. U.S. Route 1 passes through the southeastern side, and Interstate 85 runs just beyond the town with access at Exit 42. Petersburg is 26 miles northeast and South Hill is 30 miles southwest. The former railroad corridor still cuts across the town’s geography, even though the line that once carried passengers and freight has been out of service for decades.

The Richmond, Petersburg and Carolina Railroad reached McKenney in 1900 and soon became part of the Seaboard Air Line. The new stop turned the town into a timber and mercantile center: Wiley Harker Lumber Company opened in 1902, followed by the McKenney Planing Mill in 1903. At its height, McKenney had six stores, a bank, town hall, churches, a drug store, and other businesses. The S-line was abandoned in the 1980s, leaving Route 1 and I-85 as the practical connections. McKenney is a Virginia town whose rail, timber, and highway layers remain visible.