Bonsal is an unincorporated community in the New Hill, North Carolina postal district, in extreme southwestern Wake County, North Carolina, United States. Bonsal was a railroad junction between the Durham & South Carolina Railroad (D&SC) (originally chartered as the New Hope Valley Railroad) and the Seaboard Air Line Railroad (originally the Raleigh and Augusta Air Line Railroad).(22 October 1983). Workin' on the railroad, Greensboro News & Record The New Hope Valley Railroad route was abandoned in the late 1970s.
The original name of the community was Godsey after the Godsey Farm in the area, but this was changed to Bonsal in 1905(16 December 1905). Freight Train Running, News and Observer(15 February 1906). Bonsal, Raleigh Enterprise after William Roscoe Bonsal, builder and first President of the Durham & South Carolina Railroad (see below). The community was briefly incorporated from 1907An Act to Incorporate The Town of Bonsal (Chapter 217), Private Session Laws of North Carolina 1907 (North Carolina General Assembly adopted a bill to incorporate Bonsal on 1 March 1907) to 1917 to allow the citizens to vote in favor of bills supporting temperance and prohibition. The town charter was revoked in 1917An Act to Repeal the Charter of the Town of Bonsal, Located in Wake and Chatham Counties, Public-local laws passed by General Assembly 1917 (Chapter 134) when the citizens, having accomplished their purpose for being incorporated at all, refused to pay town taxes.
Bonsal is now the site of the North Carolina Railway Museum (NCRM) and the operating New Hope Valley Railway (NHVRy) tourist line.(29 June 1997). Short train rides perfect for short attention spans, The News and Observer The line owns approximately 4 miles of track between Bonsal and New Hill, North Carolina, operating for passengers from March to December. Other special event trains are operated at other times throughout the year.
The railway north of New Hill, North Carolina has been converted into the American Tobacco Trail.
References
External links New Hope Valley Railroad & NC Railroad Museum Norfolk & Southern Railway Company Historical Society The American Tobacco Trail Seaboard Air Line Railroad