Caretta, West Virginia is a company town located in McDowell County, and was developed by the Virginia Pocahontas Coal Company. The town was named for the transposed syllables of Mrs. Etta Carter, the wife of George Lafayette Carter, who founded the community. Caretta was later owned by the Carter Coal Company, although the residential and commerical properties were later divested. The last operator of the mines and processing plant at Caretta was the Consolidation Coal Company.
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Coalton, West Virginia is located in Randolph County and was a company town that was operated by the West Virginia Coal and Coke Company along Roaring Creek. The town, however, was founded much earlier in 1895 as Womelsdorf, an Irish immigrant community.
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Coalwood, West Virginia is located in McDowell County and was a company owned town founded by George Lafayette Carter in 1905. The Carter Coal Company helped develop the town into one of the more prosperous mining communities in the 20th century until the last of the mines closed in 1986. At that time, the town was still company owned by the successor of Carter, LTV Steel, and was one of the longest surviving company towns in the United States.
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Gary, West Virginia is a coal mining community in McDowell County named after U.S. Steel Chairman Judge Elbert Gary, and was the hub of operations for U.S. Steel's Gary operations, which included numerous underground coal mines, coke ovens and preparation plants. Elbert, Filbert, Ream, Thorpe and Wilcoe were considered satellite coal camps around Gary, and for decades, the town held the distinction of having one of the largest preparation plants in the world.
Glen Rogers, West Virginia, located in Wyoming County, is a coal camp that contained a large general store, hotel, fueling station and two schools. It was one of the largest lines on the Virginian Railway system, and one of the deadliest in the state.
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The towns of Fayette and South Fayette were esablished along the tracks of the Chesapeake and Ohio when it was completed in January 1873 in the New River gorge, Fayette County, West Virginia.
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Norton, West Virginia is located in Randolph County and was a company town that was operated by the West Virginia Coal and Coke Company along Roaring Creek.
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The former coal camp town of Prince saw its boom days well into the 1940s, reaching only a population of 50. It was founded in 1870 by Mr. William “Bub” Prince, who had become a very successful businessman in Beckley. Upon hearing the news of the Chesapeake and Ohio's construction along the New River, he ventured down into the gorge to stake a claim along the river for a small transportation hub.
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Today, the population of Thurmond stands at a mere seven from a high of nearly 500 in the 1930s. But just glancing at the town today, one cannot imagine that at one point in the town's history, there were dozens of buildings dotting the hillside. From houses to hotels to banks to the depot, the town was a destination and was one of the wealthiest towns in the state of West Virginia. During those days, coal was really king. What brought about such boom towns and their eventual demise?
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