the Defense Supply Center Richmond is located in Chesterfield County, between Richmond and Petersburg
Source: US Geological Survey (USGS), Drewry's Bluff, VA 1:24,000 topographic map (2022)
the Defense Supply Center Richmond is located in Chesterfield County, between Richmond and Petersburg
Source: US Geological Survey (USGS), Drewry's Bluff, VA 1:24,000 topographic map (2022)
The War Department purchased Bellwood Farms south of Richmond in 1941, as the potential became clear for the US to get involved in the war then underway in Europe. The Army Quartermaster Corps opened what was named Richmond General Depot in 1942. It was a busy place:1
the historic railroad roundhouse has been retained on the base
Over time the Army built 17 miles of track connected to the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad to bring equipment to the base before it was shipped across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe. Today equipment is delivered directly from manufacturers to military bases, rather than stockpiled in warehouses and re-shipped from a supply depot. The two remaining locomotives owned by the US Army at the base were sold and the remaining railroad tracks were removed in 1996.
Between 1943-1945, 1,200 German prisoners of war were kept in a camp built on the western edge of the facility.
The Richmond General Depot was renamed the Defense Supply Center Richmond at that time. That name still applies to the physical base, but the organization there is known as DLA Aviation. The Defense Logistics Agency, headquartered at Fort Belvoir, applied names with "DLA" to all operations in 2010 to emphasize that agency's identity. Since passage of the Base Realignment and Closure legislation in 2005, the depot operations of the individual military services have been consolidated into the Defense Logistics Agency. Locally, the site is often called the Bellwood Depot.
The Defense Supply Center Richmond now provides office space for 3,000 people responsible for purchasing items, particularly contracting officers and lawyers supporting aviation-related components of the US military. Warehouses have been repurposed for offices and storage. The conservation branch of the Naval History and Heritage Command keeps historic artifacts in one warehouse there.2
the Naval History and Heritage Command has a two-person German submarine from World War II and the first missile designed for submarine launch with a nuclear payload
Archeologists have identified artifacts dating human occupation of the site back to 3,500 BCE, when Native Americans in the Archaic Period were hunting and gathering before the development of agriculture.
a sculpture next to the child care center acknowledges the original inhabitants of Defense Supply Center Richmond
In 1619, when the colony of Virginia was still controlled by the Virgina Company, Thomas Sheffield acquired 2,300 acres that included the future site of the base. He was killed in 1622, as Opechancanough launched an uprising to force the English to limit the territory they occupied. Not until 1634 did another colonist obtain the English title to the land. Seth Ward named it Auburn Chase.
After Richard Gregory purchased 1,000 acres, he named his plantation New Oxford and by 1804 completed a mansion house. It is still used today for official meetings, and a $3 million renovation in 2021 kept the facility in operational use.
the Manor House, completed by 1804, was renovated most recently in 2021 and is used for official meetings
Gregory's daughter and son-in-law, Major Augustus Drewry, inherited the property and lived there during the Civil War. Drewry was responsible for construction of Fort Darling on the bank of the James River nearby. Confederate cannon at Drewry's Bluff prevented the Union Navy from sailing upstream towards Richmond. In 1864 Jefferson Davis met in the Mansion House with his generals and planned the defenses of Richmond.
The Civil War ended slavery at the plantation. When the child care center was constructed, six burials of what are thought to be three enslaved women and three children were discovered. They were reinterred nearby.
remains of what are thought be three enslaved women and three children were reburied near the child care center
James Bellwood purchased the property in 1887. He was an innovative farmer, and ran a successful beef and dairy cattle operation at Bellwood Farms. Bellwood was a Canadian who missed seeing elk. To start his own herd, he brought one from Yosemite and one from Washington State to his farm around 1900. They became an attraction for local residents.
When Bellwood's son sold 647 acres to the US Government in 1941, he requested the elk herd be maintained. The government needed to acquire the property quickly, so it agreed to that condition. After horses were no longer maintained on the base, fundraising efforts generated funds for feeding and care of the elk. In 2013, Federal lawyers determined the elk were government property and appropriated funds could be used for their care.
To help maintain the size of the herd, elk have been donated and traded. Arthur Godfrey, a famous radio personality in the 1950's, obtained several for his private herd in Leesburg.3
By 2025 there were 23 elk in the herd. To prevent transmission of Chronic Wasting Disease, elk may not longer be transferred. A tall fence surrounding the 25-acre elk pasture limits the potential infection of the herd from wild deer.
The ideal herd total is closer to just 10 animals. The employees of the Defense Supply Center Richmond are fond of the elk, so the option of reducing the herd size by euthanasia is not feasible. The last opportunity to cull elk that way was during COVID-19, when the employees were not coming to the office. Elk live around 20 years and the youngest elk in 2025 was just four years old, so herd reduction through the natural process will be slow.
Males seeking to be the one dominant elk in the herd will engage in fights that can be fatal, but 16 of the elk in 2025 were female and not at risk in such battles. Concerns about the genetic diversity of the herd were low priority, since breeding was being prevented to avoid adding more elk.