The original depot, which dated from 1888, burned in 1903. With an addition to the east, the current station is a phenomenally long, thin building. Its two stories are clad throughout in board-and-batten siding, and its gabled roof is covered with slate. On trackside, a shedroofed awning supported by brackets protrudes from the wall between first and second floors to shelter passengers. Above, a multiwindowed bay that projects to afford visibility in both directions served as a signal tower. Inside were three waiting rooms (separate spaces for white men and white women and a single room for blacks) and a plethora of tongue-and-groove woodwork.
In 1991 the National Park Service purchased the decaying depot from CSX and has since completed a state-of-the-art restoration. Its Denver Service Center, the Historic American Engineering Record, the West Virginia State Historic Preservation Office, and the C&O Historical Society all contributed to the project. Now painted a light yellow with white and terracotta-colored trim (c. 1920 C&O colors), the refurbished depot is the Thurmond Visitor Center of the New River Gorge National River. It houses exhibits on the area's history and a small waiting room for Amtrak.