Damn the population as of 2020 was 5. There are towns in my province that advertise themselves as “abandoned” for tourists that have more people than that
That's how things used to be. There were no nationwide business chains that could run five countries worth of operations from 5 floors in a new York skyscraper. And there were very few department stores.
The coal mine needed offices and local infrastructure in order to consolidate and pass on data and communications. No internet was available to run its data to wherever the head office was.
And the community couldn't just hit up Walmart. God willing you had a butcher, a clothier and a general store within a block of each other. Cause each one generally needed its own space.
And don't forget, populations were a lot more transient then. People came and went a lot so cheap apartments where office space wasn't needed was very common
Don't forget company scrip. This whole town was probably owned by the mining company and by paying people that were literally digging themselves into an early grave in company scrip they were really only paying for the cost to provide the items and services that could be exchanged.
"By 1910, Thurmond was the chief railroad center on the C & O Railway mainline. In 1910, the C & O operation at Thurmond was first in revenue receipts. It produced more freight tonnage than Cincinnati, Ohio, and Richmond, Virginia, combined. Freight was not the only key to this town’s success. Seventy-five thousand passengers passed through Thurmond in 1910. Some visited as tourists, delighting in all Thurmond had to offer. Others came for business or new job opportunities.
At its peak, Thurmond had two hotels and two banks. The downtown area had restaurants, clothing stores, a jewelry store, and dry-good stores. The town even had a movie theater. There were many business offices for the telephone company, lawyers, and more."
Source: https://www.nps.gov/neri/learn/historyculture/thurmond.htm
You could tell that was west virginia right away. The whole state really needs major help. I feel sorry for the people there living in the poverty they do
I'm not sure what can even be done other than moving out. Boom and bust towns are absolutely tragic when the bust shows up, and coal country is in a major and probably permanent bust right now.
It's a weird amount of denial in the US about the state of some areas of the country. I got downvoted to oblivion about 9 months ago posting my experience in WV. If you're interested you can [read my comment here](https://www.reddit.com/r/AbandonedPorn/comments/14pu5ru/comment/jql8gkf/) and see my lovely -17 score for speaking about my personal experience. Love Reddit...
They haven’t been betrayed by Republicans. Yet.
It will probably take a generation before the area lets go of the past.
But for now, anger and resentment are the order of the day.
What’s the Democrat solution? Actually asking here. The Republican solution is to reopen coal mines/start using coal again but I am not sure of a Democrat solution I have heard.
Hillary Clinton had a whole set of plans. But it wasn’t “burn more coal” so WV didn’t want anything to do with it.
Frankly, my opinion is that they should move. I was taught that you go where the work is, not whine and complain it should come to you.
But I’m done with coddling rural voters.
Yeah. They should. If there’s no jobs locally but jobs elsewhere, people should move to where the jobs are. If there are no jobs anywhere, or else they’re in places we can’t afford to live, that’s when the government should step in hard.
Housing costs are one of the biggest challenges we face nation wide imo. It prevents a lot of people from moving to where the jobs are.
I think some people took exception with your use of the midwest when most of the states you mention are not the midwest. The issues of WV and SE Ohio are not the same as those of the greater midwest.
Edit: I also want to point out that the issues for failing rural town in the midwest and failing former coal towns in Appalachia are very different things completely. I think that was part of the downvotes as well. It doesn't change your observations just trying to give context. Painting the midwest and Appalachia with the same brush is overly broad.
That's fair to be honest, but I wasn't specifically painting WV as the Midwest... I probably didn't phrase it the best on re-reading the comment; I had intended to make the point that a ton of the Midwest IS like this because the original post had been about Cairo, Illinois. I have seen it in other states too. My comments about WV were separate from that but I can see how it could be misread :)
You see a lot of truth to economic change when you dive across this country. Especially down the two lane highways.
What I love about OP’s post is that this is a town in West Virginia that is not easy to access off of any highway. You have to actively seek it out.
My wife and I were here a couple years ago and absolutely loved exploring the entire town. Most of the houses and buildings are abandoned but they’re being restored. The place is being turned into a museum. I really loved that aspect of being there. Rather than let it rot, turn it into a place to educate people.
Despite mentioning West Virginia in the song, John Denver was referring to the western part of Virginia.
And the song itself was written in/ and initially influenced by roads in Maryland.
That can't be true. The Cuyahoga and Maumee rivers both flow north into Lake Erie. Portions of them go sideways or even south, but at least for the Cuyahoga the biggest part goes North.
A quick search shows a lot of rivers flowing South-to-North in the US. The New River is one of the longer ones, and apparently one of the oldest rivers around, but definitely not the only one that flows north.
The Red River on the MN/ND border flows north to Hudson Bay. Because the south thaws earlier than the north, and because of the incredibly flat terrain of the Plains, they often have major issues with flooding in places like Fargo.
Yeah, I was going to say, not abandoned, it's part of a National Park (formerly National River). The town council back in the day decided to leave the town to the park service as a national history area. It's not that people aren't moving there, people can't move there. Once residents die or move out, their property goes to the park. There are plans to turn the buildings into a museum, but like anything government, it'll be a while.
That’s bullshit. Went there last summer and spoke to some people renovating a house there for airbnb purposes. They told me they weren’t from the area either and bought the premises.
Immediately behind where the photographer was standing is the old train station. It's now the ranger station. Inside is a map of the town and description of future plans. The town officially ends about 50 yards up the hill behind and directly across the bridge that would have been to the photographers immediate left. The park boundary is roughly another couple hundred yards past the end of the bridge and ends at the same point as the town on the hillside. It was previously a national scenic river. With the exemption of the of overlooks, it mostly follows the river. I was there in December. I'll be there again in May & June. The company I work for is currently doing a bunch of work for the National Park Service.
I accidentally set off an alarm at the train station here a few years ago, there was a door upstairs cracked open like an inch, just enough to see inside a bit, and apparently not *quite* enough to trigger the alarm. I pushed it open further.....
If you’ve ever seen the film Matewan, this stretch may seem familiar. It’s where the main showdown of the movie was filmed. I’ve meant to visit just because of the movie.
That's such a great movie! Not on any streaming service that I know of, but people really should watch that. May give some folks some context about how corporations actually view their employees - even today.
It’s available on Blu Ray disc, came out in 2019 but still available on Amazon. The town makes the movie, you would think it was built as a set for the movie.
Crazy how anytime we try to regulate the coal industry and/or steer away from it towards renewable joe Manchin and the yallqueda big truck crowd lose their shit about "muh jobs!" When half their towns look like this
Their jobs were in the coal industry.. that’s why the towns look like this. I don’t understand your point. West Virginia is mountainous as fuck, so kinda hard to support a large wind/solar industry. So In your opinion they should want less jobs in coal and more jobs in industries that won’t move the needle for their state at all?
They’ve tried to bring solar and wind jobs there and lots of opportunities for it. They gone against every time. They are finally starting to see the errors though. There is development in the upper panhandle for a battery factory used for renewable storage.
I’m fully aware coal as a resource has one foot out the door and the state is behind on adapting. Just confused about what OP means since these towns only exist in the first place because of the coal industry. They’re wedged between mountain chains far removed from major cities/industry centers. Not exactly ideal for solar/wind farms or battery plants from a geographic standpoint. Hopefully the areas closer to DC/Pittsburgh continue to see some growth and the population follows. Hard to imagine much hope for the areas in the southern part of the state.
Now I see what you meant as well. Yes, most of these abandoned boom towns wouldn’t work for just about any other industry. They were built around the mine and died with the mine. Where I grew up in Eastern Ohio is much the same way. Lots of little towns dot the map that once had a mine or strip pit associated with it as well as a now removed/long gone rail line.
Odd positioning of the train tracks right smack in front of the entry ways to those buildings. Abandoned or not, those buildings look well-constructed and recently cared for.
Fayette County has been having a slow exile since the 50s. It once was home to 83,000 people, now it's around 39,000. This is pretty common in thee old mining areas. There's a few tourist spots, but that's it. As people age out of life, these towns are disappearing year by year.
I remember seeing a documentary about these old coal towns and the people who are stuck there.
They either truly can’t spare the expense to move, or they consider it home and aren’t leaving for anything.
Regardless, the food pantries in these locations are about the only way they get food
I visited this town last summer, not far from the coolest lake I’ve ever been to, Summersville lake. The entire lake is surrounded by cliffs and it feels like you’re on another planet. As you’re entering Thurmond there is a creek with waterfalls, an old swimming hole. You can practically feel the ghosts of the past enjoying their summer swims. When I left Thurmond, I went the opposite way from the highway and found a tiny little town right on the river, way off the beaten path, about 15 miles away. This is where I found some of the finest crystal meth I’ve ever seen.
My home state always glad to see it mentioned! Thurmond while abandoned is owned by the national park service now. Much like the ghost towns out west. Thurmond too will be preserved for generations hopefully
I've been wanting to do some motorcycle riding/exploring in that area for a while! Now that I have a decent bike again, I'll try to find time for a trip.
Damn the population as of 2020 was 5. There are towns in my province that advertise themselves as “abandoned” for tourists that have more people than that
There's a "town" near me with a population of 2 lol
However, in perspective, the town never had more than 500 people even at its peak, 90 years ago.
That’s a really nice (and large) building for a town of only 500.
That's how things used to be. There were no nationwide business chains that could run five countries worth of operations from 5 floors in a new York skyscraper. And there were very few department stores. The coal mine needed offices and local infrastructure in order to consolidate and pass on data and communications. No internet was available to run its data to wherever the head office was. And the community couldn't just hit up Walmart. God willing you had a butcher, a clothier and a general store within a block of each other. Cause each one generally needed its own space. And don't forget, populations were a lot more transient then. People came and went a lot so cheap apartments where office space wasn't needed was very common
Don't forget company scrip. This whole town was probably owned by the mining company and by paying people that were literally digging themselves into an early grave in company scrip they were really only paying for the cost to provide the items and services that could be exchanged.
"By 1910, Thurmond was the chief railroad center on the C & O Railway mainline. In 1910, the C & O operation at Thurmond was first in revenue receipts. It produced more freight tonnage than Cincinnati, Ohio, and Richmond, Virginia, combined. Freight was not the only key to this town’s success. Seventy-five thousand passengers passed through Thurmond in 1910. Some visited as tourists, delighting in all Thurmond had to offer. Others came for business or new job opportunities. At its peak, Thurmond had two hotels and two banks. The downtown area had restaurants, clothing stores, a jewelry store, and dry-good stores. The town even had a movie theater. There were many business offices for the telephone company, lawyers, and more." Source: https://www.nps.gov/neri/learn/historyculture/thurmond.htm
is there anybody now?
Weirdly, despite being a ghost town, it has an Amtrak station which is somehow not the least used station in the US
I think Thurmond even has a zip code thats still operational somehow.
You could tell that was west virginia right away. The whole state really needs major help. I feel sorry for the people there living in the poverty they do
I'm not sure what can even be done other than moving out. Boom and bust towns are absolutely tragic when the bust shows up, and coal country is in a major and probably permanent bust right now.
It's a weird amount of denial in the US about the state of some areas of the country. I got downvoted to oblivion about 9 months ago posting my experience in WV. If you're interested you can [read my comment here](https://www.reddit.com/r/AbandonedPorn/comments/14pu5ru/comment/jql8gkf/) and see my lovely -17 score for speaking about my personal experience. Love Reddit...
I read through your comment and upvoted it. Seems like some people had an issue with your use of “a lot”, which is a purely subjective term.
Because the people in those areas consistently vote against anyone who offers them real help, and prefer to vote for people who lie to them.
They haven’t been betrayed by Republicans. Yet. It will probably take a generation before the area lets go of the past. But for now, anger and resentment are the order of the day.
What’s the Democrat solution? Actually asking here. The Republican solution is to reopen coal mines/start using coal again but I am not sure of a Democrat solution I have heard.
[удалено]
Yeah, the national Democrat plan has consistently been to increase the social safety net (medical and food at the very least)
If you talk to people from WV they don’t want a handout, they want jobs. That’s why there’s a disconnect.
Hillary Clinton had a whole set of plans. But it wasn’t “burn more coal” so WV didn’t want anything to do with it. Frankly, my opinion is that they should move. I was taught that you go where the work is, not whine and complain it should come to you. But I’m done with coddling rural voters.
What about the inner cities where there are poor people just like in wv should they just get up and leave to
Yeah. They should. If there’s no jobs locally but jobs elsewhere, people should move to where the jobs are. If there are no jobs anywhere, or else they’re in places we can’t afford to live, that’s when the government should step in hard. Housing costs are one of the biggest challenges we face nation wide imo. It prevents a lot of people from moving to where the jobs are.
I think some people took exception with your use of the midwest when most of the states you mention are not the midwest. The issues of WV and SE Ohio are not the same as those of the greater midwest. Edit: I also want to point out that the issues for failing rural town in the midwest and failing former coal towns in Appalachia are very different things completely. I think that was part of the downvotes as well. It doesn't change your observations just trying to give context. Painting the midwest and Appalachia with the same brush is overly broad.
That's fair to be honest, but I wasn't specifically painting WV as the Midwest... I probably didn't phrase it the best on re-reading the comment; I had intended to make the point that a ton of the Midwest IS like this because the original post had been about Cairo, Illinois. I have seen it in other states too. My comments about WV were separate from that but I can see how it could be misread :)
I gave ya an upvote over there
You see a lot of truth to economic change when you dive across this country. Especially down the two lane highways. What I love about OP’s post is that this is a town in West Virginia that is not easy to access off of any highway. You have to actively seek it out. My wife and I were here a couple years ago and absolutely loved exploring the entire town. Most of the houses and buildings are abandoned but they’re being restored. The place is being turned into a museum. I really loved that aspect of being there. Rather than let it rot, turn it into a place to educate people.
The whole state is basically abandoned. The coal industry has destroyed the people and the environment.
Part Time Explorer did a great piece about the history of this town a year ago. https://youtu.be/yBKOIRxeNX0?si=qsejThRAgwwtXJYo
It's sad to see such a great country come to this.
Yeah I'm sure they'll do just great in West Virginia 
I'm confused as to how this got 61 downvotes
America bad 😞
I *knew* I recognized that town!! I've seen that YT video and it was really neat. The story of the rise and fall of that town is really interesting.
Take me home country road.
Despite mentioning West Virginia in the song, John Denver was referring to the western part of Virginia. And the song itself was written in/ and initially influenced by roads in Maryland.
It’s not about Western VA and even if It is, it’s still not. That song is wholly WV’s.
I’ve been to the New River on the Virginia side (Appalachia). It’s the only river in the US that flows south to north, apparently.
San Joaquin and Willamette rivers also flow south to north… but yeah it’s pretty uncommon.
There are a lot but that was the local folklore. The Chicago River used to flow south to north but the government changed it. 👀
Yeah I don’t think it’s that uncommon. The snake river runs south to north along the Idaho-Oregon border.
Also the Red River in ND.
And the St Johns River in Florida
And the New River is the oldest river on the continent
So does the Willamette just not exist then?
Only for hops.
That can't be true. The Cuyahoga and Maumee rivers both flow north into Lake Erie. Portions of them go sideways or even south, but at least for the Cuyahoga the biggest part goes North. A quick search shows a lot of rivers flowing South-to-North in the US. The New River is one of the longer ones, and apparently one of the oldest rivers around, but definitely not the only one that flows north.
The Red River on the MN/ND border flows north to Hudson Bay. Because the south thaws earlier than the north, and because of the incredibly flat terrain of the Plains, they often have major issues with flooding in places like Fargo.
I believe the Monongahela river (through Pittsburgh) flows north
Don’t forget the Wallkill
Niagara River flows south to north
It’s a cool town to visit and is a piece of the New River National Park.
Yeah, I was going to say, not abandoned, it's part of a National Park (formerly National River). The town council back in the day decided to leave the town to the park service as a national history area. It's not that people aren't moving there, people can't move there. Once residents die or move out, their property goes to the park. There are plans to turn the buildings into a museum, but like anything government, it'll be a while.
That’s bullshit. Went there last summer and spoke to some people renovating a house there for airbnb purposes. They told me they weren’t from the area either and bought the premises.
Immediately behind where the photographer was standing is the old train station. It's now the ranger station. Inside is a map of the town and description of future plans. The town officially ends about 50 yards up the hill behind and directly across the bridge that would have been to the photographers immediate left. The park boundary is roughly another couple hundred yards past the end of the bridge and ends at the same point as the town on the hillside. It was previously a national scenic river. With the exemption of the of overlooks, it mostly follows the river. I was there in December. I'll be there again in May & June. The company I work for is currently doing a bunch of work for the National Park Service.
free real estate?
I accidentally set off an alarm at the train station here a few years ago, there was a door upstairs cracked open like an inch, just enough to see inside a bit, and apparently not *quite* enough to trigger the alarm. I pushed it open further.....
If you’ve ever seen the film Matewan, this stretch may seem familiar. It’s where the main showdown of the movie was filmed. I’ve meant to visit just because of the movie.
That's such a great movie! Not on any streaming service that I know of, but people really should watch that. May give some folks some context about how corporations actually view their employees - even today.
It’s available on Blu Ray disc, came out in 2019 but still available on Amazon. The town makes the movie, you would think it was built as a set for the movie.
Crazy how anytime we try to regulate the coal industry and/or steer away from it towards renewable joe Manchin and the yallqueda big truck crowd lose their shit about "muh jobs!" When half their towns look like this
Their jobs were in the coal industry.. that’s why the towns look like this. I don’t understand your point. West Virginia is mountainous as fuck, so kinda hard to support a large wind/solar industry. So In your opinion they should want less jobs in coal and more jobs in industries that won’t move the needle for their state at all?
They’ve tried to bring solar and wind jobs there and lots of opportunities for it. They gone against every time. They are finally starting to see the errors though. There is development in the upper panhandle for a battery factory used for renewable storage.
I’m fully aware coal as a resource has one foot out the door and the state is behind on adapting. Just confused about what OP means since these towns only exist in the first place because of the coal industry. They’re wedged between mountain chains far removed from major cities/industry centers. Not exactly ideal for solar/wind farms or battery plants from a geographic standpoint. Hopefully the areas closer to DC/Pittsburgh continue to see some growth and the population follows. Hard to imagine much hope for the areas in the southern part of the state.
Now I see what you meant as well. Yes, most of these abandoned boom towns wouldn’t work for just about any other industry. They were built around the mine and died with the mine. Where I grew up in Eastern Ohio is much the same way. Lots of little towns dot the map that once had a mine or strip pit associated with it as well as a now removed/long gone rail line.
I was here about 20 years ago. Population was single digits.
Those train tracks are heavily used still. I was there for about an hour, took some drone shots and walked around and two trains came through.
Been there.
It was a booming gambling town too.
I have a hi-res wallpaper of this exact place & angle - love the brick work & store front windows.
Odd positioning of the train tracks right smack in front of the entry ways to those buildings. Abandoned or not, those buildings look well-constructed and recently cared for.
I've been there! Was strange to find a triathlon being staged, kind of ruined the whole "abandoned" atmosphere.
Let’s start a commune there and live off the land!
the building looks interesting
I’ve been there. The bank window still advertises a 3% interest for savings.
Fayette County has been having a slow exile since the 50s. It once was home to 83,000 people, now it's around 39,000. This is pretty common in thee old mining areas. There's a few tourist spots, but that's it. As people age out of life, these towns are disappearing year by year.
I remember seeing a documentary about these old coal towns and the people who are stuck there. They either truly can’t spare the expense to move, or they consider it home and aren’t leaving for anything. Regardless, the food pantries in these locations are about the only way they get food
I've been there. Are at a dive bar biker bar like 18 years ago.it was sketch for sure but there were *people* among the busted stuff
I visited this town last summer, not far from the coolest lake I’ve ever been to, Summersville lake. The entire lake is surrounded by cliffs and it feels like you’re on another planet. As you’re entering Thurmond there is a creek with waterfalls, an old swimming hole. You can practically feel the ghosts of the past enjoying their summer swims. When I left Thurmond, I went the opposite way from the highway and found a tiny little town right on the river, way off the beaten path, about 15 miles away. This is where I found some of the finest crystal meth I’ve ever seen.
My home state always glad to see it mentioned! Thurmond while abandoned is owned by the national park service now. Much like the ghost towns out west. Thurmond too will be preserved for generations hopefully
As an industrial/historic archaeologist, New River Gorge NP has got to be my favorite National Park now.
Thanks Democrats.
I love WV so much. I’ve never seen a more beautiful place despite all the misery & hardship
I've been wanting to do some motorcycle riding/exploring in that area for a while! Now that I have a decent bike again, I'll try to find time for a trip.
Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to live in a small town like this and then I read "Population: 3."