Thurmond Historic District: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, New River Gorge National River
Sams C and Brown NJ. 2025. Thurmond Historic District: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, New River Gorge National River. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 300204. National Park Service. NPS Northeast Regional Office, Boston, Massachusetts / CRIS-CL Database
Thurmond, West Virginia is located in a remote area in the heart of the New River Gorge. The entire town has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places as an historic district since 1984. The development of Thurmond began in the late 1800s to provide support to the C&O Railroad that was beginning to prosper in the region as a means of transportation of coal from the valuable refuges in the area to the markets in the east and west. Built along the New River where it has cut deep into the surrounding mountains, topography is a major landscape feature in Thurmond. The railroad was constructed along the relatively narrow level area adjacent to the riverbed; thus many of the buildings and structures of Thurmond were perched on the steep slope of the gorge above the river. During the early part of the 20th century, Thurmond had a booming economy and had many features to support those who were living and doing business in the area. There is a small commercial district adjacent to the railroad tracks that served as the “main street” of the town, and the railroad provided the only access to Thurmond until the 1920s. Across the river was a large hotel, named the Dun Glen, that was the social center of the area. Typical of many boomtowns of the time period, as the C&O began to depend less on coal and the economy began to wane many of the structures declined and were abandoned. Much of the infrastructure that was present during Thurmond’s heyday is no longer present. The Thurmond Historic District consists of properties that are owned by the National Park Service and those that are still held privately. The district includes the remnants of the C&O train yard and the passenger depot, the commercial row of buildings and the houses located on the hillside, as well as the area on the south side of the river, where the Dun Glen Hotel once stood. While many of the features that were present during the period of significance are no longer present, there are many landscape features that still convey Thurmond’s unique history. The railroad tracks, that are now owned by CSX still run along the river’s edge and the depot has been rehabilitated to serve as a visitor center. The spatial organization of the houses perched on the hillside above the tracks and commercial district remain.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Sams, Cheryl; Brown, Nancy
- Date of Issue
- 2025
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- NER , NERI
- Keywords
- Architecture, bank, BAR, Business, C&O Canal, Changing the Role of the U.S. in the World, Coal, Commerce, Depot, Developing the American Economy, domestic, Dun Glen, extraction, Historic Vernacular Landscape, hotel, Industry, Leisure, Meeting Hall, Mining, picnic shelter, Rail Yard, Rail-Related, Railroads, Recreation, Rehabilitation, residential, Restaurant, Social, Southside Junction, Station, Theater, trade, Transportation