Thurmond is an 1800s ghost town that was established along the New River, West Virginia, United States. The town whose economic development relied on the railroad served as a deport for both coal and lumber from various mining and lumbering communities. The town was later abandoned and left to rot in the late 1900s.

Establishing Thurmond

Thurmond grew into a commercial hub in the area. Along with the Dunglen hotel, the Armour Meat Company meat-packing plant, banks, restaurants, stores, and boarding houses, a passenger depot, freight station, engine house, turntable, water tank, coal, and sand towers were built. Thurmond handled more freight than Richmond, Virginia, and Cincinnati, Ohio combined during the first two decades of the twentieth century, and over 150 individuals worked on the railroad as laborers, brakemen, and dispatchers, with 18 train crews operating out of Thurmond. There were 26 mines moving freight into and out of town, including items for the company stores and equipment for the mines all along the New River and its tributaries.

Death of Thurmond

Thurmond was destroyed by a fire in 1922, and the Dun Glen Hotel was burned down in 1930. By the 1930s, the country had succumbed to the Great Depression. The Thurmond National Bank closed in 1931, and the McKell family's New River Bank relocated to Oak Hill in 1935. In 1932 and 1938, the Armor Meat Company and a telephone district office, respectively, closed their doors.

Thurmond experienced a brief resurgence during World War II when coal was in high demand and helped fuel the war effort, but the arrival of the diesel locomotive signaled a more significant shift. The steam engines did not require water or coal for them to run. The railroad company that had its rails through Thurmond was the last railroad company to completely shift from steam to diesel cars. When it did, Thurmond was rendered useless.

What is left of Thurmond?

The National Park Service established New River Gorge National Park in 1978. This was done to protect and explain the New River Gorge's great ecological, aesthetic, and historical assets, as well as to keep the New River flowing freely. Thurmond exhibited early indicators of being a valuable historical site, culminating in its adoption in 1982. Thurmond was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984, along with its neighboring districts.

On August 21, 1993, an unknown fire destroyed the engine house. In 1995, the post office was closed down. The water tower, which had previously served as the backdrop for the film "Matewan," was demolished in mid-1999 due to concerns about its potential collapse. CSX refused to sell the majority of its remaining property and structures, citing safety concerns. Thurmond now has a population of only five people and is open to the general public to explore.