There are no major roads going through Thurmond. Signs off of U.S. 19 point to it, with little other information. It’s a railroad town, on the New River, almost deserted, except for a few people who live in the area, and National Park Service employees who now keep up the once thriving coal metropolis and banking center.
It was a winter day earlier this year, and I was headed back home from a meeting when I saw the sign that pointed to Thurmond. I had heard of the town, and knew a little of its history, so I decided to venture off the highway and follow the winding mountain road. After a half-hour of driving I came to the old town. No one else was there, even though the old town is somewhat of a tourist destination, and maintained by the National Park Service and New River Gorge National River.
The Chesapeke and Ohio ( C&O) depot is still in use as an Amtrack stop, and National Park Service visitor’s center. The Amtrack station is the second least used stop in the country, behind the one in Sanderson, Texas.
CSX (formerly C&O) trains run along the tracks, just a few feet from the store front town of Thurmond, on a regular basis carrying coal, chemicals, heavy machinery and construction equipment and supplies, among other things. I didn’t know the trains’ schedule, but was lucky enough to be there when one went through. I could hear it coming, so prepared by putting a wide angle lens on one camera, and a telephoto on another.
I didn’t spend long at the historic site, once an important part of West Virginia’s rich coal mining heritage, but was lucky enough to be able to shoot a few shots before rain rolled in and put a halt to my photo shoot. Clouds and bare winter trees gave a feeling of desolation, which made it difficult to image this as a bustling and thriving business destination in days gone by. In it’s heyday, traffic in or out of Thurmond was by foot or rail, as there wasn’t a road into town until 1921. That road, like so many others in rural West Virginia, isn’t much to speak of. It turns and twists twists along woods, hills, and streams, and an occasional old house on it’s often one lane course. But, it get’s one to it’s destination, and that’s all that has counted in almost a hundred years.
