New River

Clifftop, West Virginia

Not quite a ghost town, but nearly so.... Thurmond, deep in West Virginia's New River Valley, was long the busiest point on the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, but those days are long past and it's now a not-quite-ghost town. On any given day, you'll see a few trains rumble through, and a few railfans taking pictures. I've got all those pictures; you'll likely see more from time to time. A fascinating place, stuck in time. Photo taken in July, 1997.

Glade Creek Mill at West Virginia's Babcock State Park, shortly after a heavy downpour in July of 1997. =================== Had a couple reminders of this place today: * A friend has a photo of the mill on her PC. I told her I visit there regularly, and that Joan and I will be staying in one of Babcock's cabins in a few weeks. Sue was surprised; wanted to know more about the mill, and the park. * And today's mail contained a flyer from Mountain River Adventures, featuring a Special Offer if we book our rafting trip before June 30: Free gas! One gallon of free gas. One gallon. Wow.

The great bridge across the New River Gorge. This photo dates from 1997, I think; taken from the grounds at the National Park visitor center. Perhaps you've noticed: I like bridges, too. Perhaps as much as daylilies.... Camera: Chinon Genesis III

The New River Gorge has dozens of ghost towns.... Down below New River Bridge is a reasonably easy trail to the ruin of the Kaymoor mine. Properly speaking, this is not the Kaymoor ghost town; these are the buildings at the entrance to Kaymoor One. This mine closed in 1962, and the buildings have been neglected for four decades. The mine was about two thirds of the way up a thousand-foot hill. Most of the miners lived above the mine at Kaymoor Top, which is still inhabited, or below at Kaymoor Bottom. Besides housing for miners, Kaymoor Bottom had the rail connection to the outside world, and featured a battery of coke ovens for much of the mine's history. This town was abandoned more or less with the mine. There's a stair from the mine to Kaymoor Bottom, but Joan and I weren't up to the 800 steps.... The road below New River Bridge was once the sole roadway which crossed the gorge. It's a skinny, twisty, scenic path down the valley wall, across the bridge at Fayette Station, then back up the other side, crossing back and forth under the bridge in a series of switchbacks. Very scenic, but pretty intimidating.

This is Cabin 10 at West Virginia's Babcock State Park. It's pretty much like Cabin 3, where we stayed, like these folks , in 2001--except it has fewer steps (38, by my count). Both cabins are above Glade Creek, though on opposite sides of the valley; 10 is past the mill, then down the hill on the Old Sewell Road. As you can see, the cabin's stairway's been rebuilt this season; we've also got new pots and pans and are feeling a little spoilt.... Photo taken Monday evening. Old Sewell Road used to run five miles or so to the site of Sewell on the C&O line along the New River. The road was originally the "main line" for the narrow gauge Mann's Creek Railway, then was converted to a narrow and precarious automobile road when the rails were pulled in the fifties. It's recently become impassible by car; Joan and I hiked a mile or two on Tuesday morning and discovered two washouts that the park isn't planning to fix. (The second wash is pretty spectacular, and if my good camera got any decent shots you'll see them.) A foot and bicycle trail, now, and pretty inconvenient on a bike. Babcock State Park was a gift to West Virginia from Babcock Coal and Coke, an operation which ran coal mines at Clifftop and a lumbering operation headquartered at Landisburg. The first purpose of the rail line was to get coal down the hill, but the same road was a traditional lumbering railroad with all the fixings--Shay-type locomotives, lightweight track, even a sharply curved trestle. When they closed down the line around the end of 1954, Mann's Creek got a flurry of publicity in the railfan press; the last train run on the line, on May 30, 1955, was the road's first fan trip. Today's been quite wet--really serious rain for six or eight hours. Glade Creek's running wild in the channel tonight, which looks spectacular and sounds quite impressive. (Originally a blog post written in July of 2004.)

The sluice which feeds the water wheel at Glade Creek Mill, Babcock State Park, near Clifftop, West Virginia. One purpose of this photo was to show that it's possible to compose an excellent picture at Glade Creek Mill without recreating the standard shot. (Of course, I've taken my share of those, as well. Some photos are irresistable.) That's my explanation for the shot. Joan made a similar photo, perhaps for other reasons.

A view from one of the overlooks the National Park's constructed near West Virginia's New River Bridge. The rafts on the river are about to land, as the lower New River raft trips generally end at the bridge(s). While they don't show well, there are CSX lines on both sides of the river at this point. The haze is normal. That's the Fayette Station Bridge. The old road across the gorge begins (speaking loosely) near where I took the picture, jackknifes down the gorge literally beneath the viewing station, crosses the river, and makes a similar trip up the other side. Much of this trip is now restricted to one-way traffic, but until 1977 this skinny road carried vehicles in both directions across the gorge.