
Downtown Thurmond, West Virginia

by Susan Rissi Tregoning
Title
Downtown Thurmond, West Virginia
Artist
Susan Rissi Tregoning
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
What remains of the business district in the ghost town of Thurmond, West Virginia.
A boomtown in the 1900s, Thurmond, West Virginia, was one of the busiest railroad towns along the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. Right in the heart of the coal country, all the coal mined in the area was brought to Thurmond to be shipped out. Over fifteen passenger trains a day traveled through town, and the depot served around 75,000 visitors a year. When the diesel locomotives came along, and coal was not as widely used or mined, the businesses closed down, and residents moved on.
Today, Thurmond is not much more than a ghost town with only seven residents (2005). Located along the New River, what remains of the town is owned by the National Park Service and is part of the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve.
Like a time capsule, Thurmond still possesses all the characteristics of a 1920s Appalachian coal town. The town has been designated a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places.
Copyright 2023 Susan Rissi Tregoning
Uploaded
August 2nd, 2023
Statistics
Viewed 464 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 09/28/2023 at 5:22 AM
Embed
Share
Sales Sheet