Thurmond, Wv

     A few months ago, I visited the town of Thurmond, West Virginia. This was after watching a documentary about it, everybody knows me and my dad will nerd out about a documentary.
     Thurmond is an old railroad town that sits on the bank of the new river. It's said to be the "heart of the gorge".As of 2020, the population was 5. This wasn't always the case, back in the 1920's, Thurmond was a Thriving town. At its peak, it had a population of 500! Nowadays, the park service owns about 80% of the town.
     The town was originally founded in the 1880's  and was incorporated in 1903, by 
Captain William D. Thurmond on land he received as payment for surveying the North side of the New River. William served as a captain during the civil war. Captain Thurmond died in 1910 and sadly didn't get to see the height of the town.Until 1921, the town was only accessible by train. Alcohol was banned by Captain Thurmond, but just outside the incorporated part of town, the Dun Glen hotel was built. This hotel became known for drinking and gambling. It became dubbed "Dodge city of the east".
     I really liked checking out all the buildings on main street and checking out the Coal tipple.
    After checking out the downtown area, we drove up on the hill behind the town to check out some of the old houses. Some of these houses were built right on the steep mountain. I'm from here in the mountain state, but I'm used to seeing houses built in the hollow AKA holler. It's a little out of the ordinary to see houses protruding out of an 80 degree mountain.
     Thurmond is just one of many bustling towns in West Virginia that have been reduced to almost nothing because of changes in technology.
     If you ever get a chance, I recommend visiting and exploring this ghost town. The park service has done a great job restoring and maintaing this town, without disturbing the authenticity.I really enjoy stepping back in time. People always compain that theres nothing to in Wv- get out and explore!

A cool facttoid about Thurmond is the movie Matewan, which was about a coal conflict (which I already wrote a post on) in another West Virginia town, was filmed here
Also, the world record for the longest poker game was set at the Dun Glen hotel (14 years)

A picture I took of the coal Tipple. My dad found a piece of red glass under the tipple that we believe may have came from an old rail road lantern. After we checked it out, he put it back on the ground for someone else to find and enjoy.

The old bank on main street

Another bank building on main street

This huge building was town hall

Captain William D. Thurmond
Sourced from wvencyclopedia.com
Thurmond back in its hay day
Sourced from wvexplorer.com


J. Borden, oct 27th, 2017, coal country ghost town, preserved for tourists, usatoday.com

Thurmondwv.org

July 16th, 2020, the history of Thurmond, wv, acecraft.com

The dun glen hotel. The clio.com

Wd. Thurmond, wvencyclopedia.org

Matewan (1987)- filing and production, imdb.com


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