Abandoned and Forgotten Communities in West Virginia

Last updated on May 19, 2026

This is a gallery of abandoned and forgotten communities in West Virginia.

Additional communities can be located under the Communities location filter.

Abraham

Abraham is named for Armistead Abraham Lilly, who served as the prosecuting attorney for Raleigh County from 1904 to 1908. ^{33 35} The area was first settled by the Smith family in 1850. A post office was established on November 30, 1907, with George Washington Smith Jr. as the first postmaster, holding the position until his death in April 1940. ³⁴ His daughter, K. Golda Fox, succeeded him and continued until her retirement.

Initially, mail was delivered by carriers on horseback from Meadow Creek, passing through Pear, Bragg, and New post offices. ³⁴ The first post office operated from a log cabin, which was replaced in 1946 by a one-room building that Fox funded herself. ³⁵

The Abraham community once boasted more amenities, including a large general store run by George and his brothers, Ervin and Marion Smith. ³⁴ Residents would ford the New River or take a ferry and walk three miles up the mountain from Meadow Creek. The family also operated a grist mill and a sawmill, and a one-room schoolhouse was nearby.

At one time, there were seven post offices in the Richmond District, but by 1976, Abraham was the only one remaining, located at the end of a long dead-end road. That year, the post office generated $569.30 in income but cost $5,600 to operate. ³⁵ By 1977, only six families were served by the post office, with 14 post office boxes in use. It was closed by 1979.

Bartow

Bartow is named for Col. Francis S. Bartow, a Confederate commander who died at the Battle of First Manassas on July 21, 1861. ¹⁶ The Battle of Greenbrier River, also known as the Battle of Camp Bartow, took place on October 3 about one mile southeast of the town. The Camp Bartow Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995. ¹⁷

The town lies along the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike, and it became the first stagecoach stop west of the Allegheny Mountains.

Bayard

Bayard was once a bustling coal mining town during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Founded in 1902 by the Davis Coal and Coke Company, Bayard thrived as a hub of coal production and a center for the coal mining workforce.

West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway

Carolina

Carolina is a coal camp community in Marion County, West Virginia, named for Caroline Watson, a daughter of mining baron James Otis Watson. ^{46 47} The community was established in 1915–16 by the Consolidation Coal Company as a company town serving Mine No. 86, which worked the Pittsburgh seam in the Fairmont Coalfield. ⁴⁷ The first coal from the mine was shipped in June 1916.

A new company store was built at Carolina in 1925. ⁴⁷ The mine was later operated by Bethlehem Steel’s Industrial Collieries subsidiary as Mine No. 43 and closed in June 1949. Another mine opened and was operated by Consol No. 86.

Coalton

The community was founded on May 8, 1895, ²² as Womelsdorf, an Irish immigrant community. ²¹ It was named after the founder O.C. Womelsdorf of Pottsville, Pennsylvania. ²³ Womelsdorf had hoped that the completion of the Rolling Creek & Charleston Railroad from Coalton south to Charleston would spark the town’s development. ²⁴ The community was ultimately reached by the Roaring Creek & Belington Railroad.

After the richer Sewell coal seam was discovered in the New River Valley, activity in the Roaring Creek region began to decline. ²⁵ For 1916, coal production at Coalton was 240,000 tons but declined sharply to just 22,000 tons by 1928. Coalton’s population peaked at 833 in 1920 but subsequently declined to 373 by 1930.

Earnshaw

Earnshaw is a small community along Long Drain in Wetzel County, West Virginia. It was originally known as Lewistown and was later named for the Earnshaw family, who resided there. ³⁶

By the late 19th century, the community had developed around its churches, school, and small businesses. According to the 1886 deed for the Methodist Church, Lamech and Eliza Glover conveyed land to Enoch Higginbotham and U. R. Homer, trustees. ³⁶ At that time, the community was still called Lewistown. The Glovers deeded the land jointly to the Baptists and Methodists, and the church opened in 1888 as Union Chapel. Margaret Rush Higginbotham, mother of Everett, Roy, and Harry Rush, organized the first Sunday School there in the early 1890s.

The Church of Christ burned in September 1895 and was rebuilt in 1898. ³⁶ The Methodist Church was remodeled in 1974, when interior improvements were made, and a Sunday School classroom was added.

Education in Earnshaw began with a log schoolhouse, which stood on the foundation where the Methodist Church was later built. ³⁶ A two-story school was later constructed between the Methodist Church and the Church of Christ. It was followed by a two-room school erected about 100 yards up the road. The school closed in 1957, when only 13 pupils were enrolled, although as many as 70 students had attended at one time. Soon after the school closed, the Homemaker Club was organized and maintained the building as a community center and voting precinct.

At its peak, Earnshaw included two general stores operated by Frank Hughes and Mart Teagarden. ³⁶ The post office was located in Hughes’ store. The community also had a hat shop, a blacksmith shop, a barber shop, and two boarding houses. Jasper Flanagan and Ed Willison worked as blacksmiths, Harry Rush operated the barber shop, and Kate Teagarden and Rosetta Earnshaw owned the boarding houses. O. A. Starkey later purchased the Hughes store and operated it for more than 50 years, until his death in December 1981.

Elkhorn

Elkhorn is a former company town Crozer Land Association ⁴ and was at the end of the Norfolk & Western Railway (N&W) for a time.

Originally proposed to be named Weston, West Virginia in 1887 for Francis E. Weston of Upland, Pennsylvania, one of the original investors in the Crozer Coal & Coke Company, it was changed to Elkhorn after Elkhorn Creek because of an existing town name elsewhere in the state. ⁷ A post office was established on March 7, 1888, ^{5 7} surrounded by a small central district that included a school, barbershop, hotel, and the Swift & Company meatpacking facility. ⁵ Several churches and three company stores were nearby, all painted in matching green-and-white hues.

The Norfolk & Western Railway mainline reached Elkhorn in the spring of 1888 and was the railroad’s western terminus until it began work on the Ohio Extension in 1890. ⁷

The Crozer Coal & Coke Company, Houston Coal & Coke Company, and Upland Coal & Coke Company all leased land from the Crozer Land Company. ⁵ The four companies, all based in Elkhorn, were chartered by experienced Pennsylvania coal operators who wanted to mine in the phenomenal Pocahontas No. 3 coal seam along Elkhorn Creek which gained national recognization for its “smokeless” purity. It was the chosen fuel for the United States Navy and for steel producers.

Elkhorn gained a reputation as a racially and ethnically complex and diverse community, home to Black families from the deep South and Eastern European immigrants who were eager to strike a living in coal country. ⁵

In 1888, the first year of production, Elkhorn shipped 15,000 tons of “smokeless” coal out on the N&W, and by 1934, over 65 million tons of coal was shipped from Elkhorn. ⁵ The Crozer operation was purchased by Pittsburgh’s Consolidation Coal Company in 1963 and the mines were later closed after they had been depleted.

Gary

Gary was founded in 1902 by United States Steel (USS) to house workers that worked its fourteen mines that produced metallurgical coal that was shipped to its steel mills. ⁸ The company-owned community was named after the founding chairman of USS, Elbert Henry Gary. It was not formally incorporated as a city until July 1, 1971, after an election was held the year prior, and was one of the last company-owned towns in the state.

By the 1940s, Gary produced around a quarter of the amount of coal mined from McDowell County, as well as a quarter of the coal used by U.S. Steel during World War II. ⁸ By the 1970s, most of the high-quality metallurgical coal had been mined and employment levels began to wane. In March 1982, around 500 miners that were employed by U.S. Steel were laid off, and by the end of the year, all of the company’s mines in Gary were closed. By 1983, the unemployment rate in the community rose to 90%, the highest of any town in the United States.

In 1987, Gary Enterprise reopened one of the mines after acquiring it from U.S. Steel, and other companies arranged for sub-leases to mine coal that was economically accessible. ⁸ By 1990, Gary only had 180 mining jobs, a far cry from the town’s heyday just two decades prior. In July 2003, U.S. Steel sold its remaining assets in Gary to PinnOak Resources.

Giatto

Giatto was a black residential area for the Weyanoke Coal Company of Weyanoke. Some houses remain along the abandoned Norfolk & Western Right Fork Widemouth Branch and the former alignment of WV Route 10.

Idamay

Idamay is a community in Marion County, West Virginia, named for Ida May Watson, daughter of Consolidation Coal Company co-founder James Otis Watson ³⁷ and sister of Caroline Watson Fleming, the wife of West Virginia Governor Aretas Fleming. ³⁸

Consolidation Coal began construction of its No. 87 Idamay Mine and barracks in 1915. ³⁹ As the mine developed, company houses were either built on-site by carpentry crews or transported from closed mines in Pennsylvania. ⁴⁰ By 1917, the mine was fully operational, bringing railroad service and migrant workers, and laying the foundation for a self-sustaining coal town. ^{40 48}

Idamay grew into a well-developed company town. Miners and their families had access to a recreation hall, company store, first-class school, ⁴¹ community gardens, concerts, and picnics. Company nurses and doctors were available, and streetcar service connected residents with Fairmont and Mannington. ⁴² During the 1920s and 1930s, Idamay became especially known for its championship miners’ league baseball team, the “Ida Mae Fence Busters.” Mine league teams and professional baseball clubs from across the country traveled to challenge the team, though most failed to defeat them. ⁴³

In the early 1950s, Bethlehem Coal purchased the mine and renamed it Bethlehem No. 44, the name by which it later became best known. Under Bethlehem, the Idamay mine became one of the first to successfully use a roof-bolt system, making it a working model for newer mines. ^{44 48} As unionization expanded and mine scrip disappeared, Bethlehem began selling company houses to miners.

To preserve the town’s communal structure and local oversight, residents founded the Idamay Improvement Association in 1953. The association established bylaws for the town’s development, maintenance, and future. ⁴⁵ When Bethlehem closed the mine in 1971, much of the remaining property was deeded to the association. The Idamay Improvement Association continues to oversee the town today. ^{45 48}

Keystone

Known previously as Cassville, ³ the community was founded as Belcher in July 1886 by John Belcher. The community was renamed Keystone on October 13, 1892, for the Keystone Coal & Coke Company. ^{1 3 6} It was incorporated as a town in 1896. ⁶

Keystone Coal & Coke Company was incorporated in June 1890 and it leased 1,562 acres of land from the Flat Top Coal Land Association. ⁶ The first mine at Keystone, Keystone No. 1, was in production from June 1892 until 1986 and was the oldest coal mine in the Pocahontas Coalfield. ^{1 6} The mines were later operated by the Koppers Coal Company in 1936, by Eastern Associated Coal in 1967, and by Governor Jim Justice’s Bluestone Coal Company, and by the Russian-owned Mechel Company. Keystone Coal & Coke also operated 100 coke ovens. ⁶

Keystone served as a regional center for the adjoining coal company towns and was home to wholesale grocers, retail stores, salons, and entertainment. ² It was widely known for Cinder Bottom, a red-light district. The community’s population peaked at 2,500 in 1950, but like many towns in the coalfield, it began to decline because of pressures from mining mechanization and coal reserve depletion. Destructive floods further wiped out what remained of the business district.

By 2020, the population of Keystone was just slightly over 200.

Kline

The first surveys of the “upper tract” of the South Branch valley were performed around 1750, with a sudden wave of immigration occurring in the area in 1753 when 27 tracts were surveyed for 21 different persons, 16 of whom were newcomers to the United States. ¹⁰ Samuel Kline, who hailed from Germany, came to the area prior to 1861 and served as postmaster for an unincorporated community along Mill Run at Greenawalt Gap. ¹¹ The community’s name took the name of Kline around 1875.

Jumping Branch

The Jumping Branch community got its name from the absence of a bridge across a creek. ^{31 32} Legend has it that when Native Americans lived there, they had to jump across the creek, leading to an accident that resulted in the name “Jumping Branch.” Another theory suggests that travelers had to jump their horses across a stream along the Giles, Fayette, and Kanawha Turnpike.

The Deeds family settled around the stream around 1822 in what was then known as Giles County, Virginia. ³² In 1837, a modest brick house—a two-room, two-story dwelling — was erected, marking a significant milestone as the first brick structure in what became Mercer County.

A small farming community developed around the creek, including a general store, Odie Meador Lumber Company offices, a gasoline station, and two grain mills. ³¹ These establishments were the heart of the community, providing essential goods and services to the residents. A post office was established on November 12, 1853, further solidifying the community’s status.

Leckie

Leckie was a coal community named after Col. William Leckie, a coal baron and native of Scotland. ¹⁸ After emigrating to the United States at the age of 21, he worked in the coal mines as a repairman in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania. ^{19 27} He was appointed as a fire boss for the Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Company in 1882 and as a foreman with the Buck Mountain Coal Company in 1883 before becoming district superintendent for the Lehigh & Wilkes-Barre Coal Company in 1884. Leckie ascended to the position of general superintendent of Lehigh Valley Coal, York Farm, and Blackwood Collieries, of the Webster Coal & Coke Company, and as the general manager of the Loyal Hanna Coal & Coke Company.

Leckie relocated to West Virginia in 1901 and became the superintendent of the Pocahontas Collieries Company. ^{19 27} In 1907, he established the West Virginia Pocahontas Coal Company with the Leckie No. 1 and No. 2 mines at Leckie, ²⁶ the Lathrop Coal and Panther Coal Companies with mines at Panther, ^{19 27} the Leckie Collieries Company with mines at Aflex, Kentucky, and the Leckie Fire Creek Coal and Douglas Coal Companies with mines at Fireco, West Virginia, with offices in Welch. Leckie also incorporated several land holding companies for undeveloped coal lands. The Leckie Coal Company, a selling agency, was formed to handle the output of all of his coal companies.

By 1915, the West Virginia Pocahontas Coal Company was producing 300,000 long tons per year of Pocahontas Smokeless Coal ²⁹ through machine and pick mining utilizing electric, rope, and mules to haul. ³⁰ The mines employed 150 men.

McComas

The once-bustling McComas coal camp was developed by multiple coal companies, including the American Coal Company, the Thomas Coal Company, and the Pocahontas Fuel Company. ⁹

Northfork

Northfork was founded after G.L. Toney, a buyer for the Algoma Coal & Coke Company, constructed three houses along Elkhorn Creek circa 1892. ⁶ The area was previously known as the Forks of Elkhorn and North Fork as it was where the North Fork Elkhorn Creek diverged.

Joseph L. Baker of Bluefield received a contract in February 1892 to construct a combination passenger and freight station; he received an additional contract in June to build a section house, foreman’s house, and other structures for the Norfolk & Western Railway. ⁶ A coaling station was erected in 1895 by Algoma Coal & Coke to serve the N&W.

Norton

The Norton community was originally known as Roaring Creek Junction, as it was located along Roaring Creek and the adjoining Roaring Creek & Charleston Railroad. With the arrival of the West Virginia Coal & Coke Company, the town was enlarged and named for the company’s president, R.F. Norton. Norton, at its height, included a company store, a company bank, and the Norton Grade School.

Omar

Omar is the biggest coal camp on Island Creek and was constructed by the Main Island Creek Coal Company in 1914-15. ²⁰ It was one of the largest camps in the Logan coalfield, with 500 houses. By 1916, production was approximately 12,000 tons of coal per day. In 1925, Main Island Creek sold the mine and town to the West Virginia Coal & Coke Corporation, which employed 2,000 persons at Omar in 1934. The mines closed in 1954.

Stephenson

Stephenson was developed by the Buckeye Coal & Coke Company and later managed by the Crozer Page Coal Company and Consol.

Weirton

Welch

Welch is the largest city and county seat of McDowell County. It was chosen as the county seat in 1892, ¹⁵ incorporated in 1893, ¹⁴ and named after Isaiah A. Welch, a former captain in the Confederate States Army who arrived as a surveyor and helped design the town at the confluence of the Tug Fork and Elkhorn Creek.

During the early 20th century, Welch thrived as a boomtown as McDowell County’s population neared 100,000. The city proudly called itself “The Heart of the Nation’s Coal Bin” and was home to three hospitals. However, the increased use of oil for heating and electricity, along with the mechanization of coal mining, reduced the demand for labor. By 1960, McDowell County had more residents on government assistance than any other county in the nation. The decline of the domestic steel industry, which relied on coal to produce coke for pig iron blast furnaces, further exacerbated the economic downturn.

Welch reached its peak population of 6,603 in 1950 and has since declined to 3,590 as of 2020.

Elkhorn Wholesale Building and Buckingham Apartment Building

Wilsie

Wilsie is a ghost town in Braxton County. The post office closed in July 2005.

Wilsontown

Wilsontown was settled by Gideon Hall Wilson in the mid-1860s, who operated a grist and sawmill along Flatwoods Run. ¹² The grist and sawmill were destroyed by fire in 1890. Notable buildings include:

Wilson Chapel, a one-room church built in 1887.
Gideon Wilson House, a large two-story residence.
Jonathan Wilson House, a country-style residence built in 1880. ¹³

Zenith

Zenith, located at the base of Peter’s Mountain in Monroe County, was named because of its high elevation. ^{13 28} The post office operated for nearly a century until 1970.

Other

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