Related Posts
![Pocahontas No. 1 Tunnel](https://i0.wp.com/abandonedonline.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/20230318-20230318-20176-HDR-Edit.jpg?fit=800%2C534&ssl=1)
Pocahontas Branch’s Tunnel No. 1
Tunnel No. 1 is located along the defunct Norfolk & Western Railway Pocahontas Branch near Pocahontas, Virginia.
![Russell, Kentucky C&O YMCA](https://i0.wp.com/abandonedonline.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/1ymca.jpg?fit=500%2C366&ssl=1)
The Role of a Railroad YMCA
Railroad YMCA’s were once staples in the United States, offering lounges, recreational amenities, restaurants and a safe and convenient place for rest for the myriad of railroad employees. Russell, Kentucky is one such instance of a town that offered a YMCA.
![Coketon](https://i0.wp.com/abandonedonline.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/20230212-20230212-17758.jpg?fit=800%2C534&ssl=1)
Coketon’s Coke Ovens
Many of the abandoned “beehive” coke ovens of the Davis Coal & Coke Company are still visible today in the company town of Coketon, West Virginia.
![New Salem Baptist Church](https://i0.wp.com/abandonedonline.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/20210329-DJI_0195-Edit.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1)
Winding Gulf Churches
Mining in the Winding Gulf coalfield of West Virginia began in the early 1900s, producing low-volatile smokeless coal, including metallurgical coal suitable for use in steel making. Mining was centered on the thick Beckley seam until it was economically exhausted by the 1950s, and the Pocahontas seam until the late 1980s.
But after the coal seams were exhausted, these coal camps were all but abandoned and today, only a few reminders of this booming era remain.
I was pretty excited to come across two notable churches in the Winding Gulf that are still extant.