Paddling the Dries, sort of

Here‘s the final installment of my blog posts for Blue Ridge Country Magazine.

Another waterfall

Did I mention the day we stopped for lunch, hiked through a tunnel and up to this waterfall?

Another post at BRC

Used boats -- very used boats -- near Ivanhoe.

Blue Ridge Country Magazine has put up another post.

Thurmond

The New River Gorge used to be full of towns that existed because of the coal mines and coke ovens that lined the river from the 1870′s until — well, the coke ovens are still there, but they’ve been cold for decades.  Thurmond sits on the edge of the New River, but it was never one of those towns. Thurmond was a railroad town.

Thurmond’s roots go back to 1873 when Capt. W. D. Thurmond was paid for some surveying with seventy-three acres along the New River. There wasn’t much of a road there, but the C&O Railway completed its main line through the gorge that year. Thurmond became the place where the steam engines traveling that line were taken care of. Though the town’s population never got far past five hundred, Thurmond was a major spot on the C&O’s line. One hundred years ago, Thurmond led the C&O in revenue, moving more freight than Richmond, Virginia, and Cincinnati, Ohio, combined — more the $4.8 million worth. That same year, 75,000 passengers passed through Thurmond.

Capt. Thurmond was a devout Baptist, so his town’s charter forbade drinking and gambling. That’s why Tom McKell built the Dunglen Hotel just across the river. All sorts of entertainment and commerce was available at the Dunglen. At least one coal mine was lost at a poker table there. Another poker game is said to have lasted fourteen years. Though the Dunglen wasn’t technically in Thurmond, the hotel was a big reason the town was called the Dodge City of the East.

The Depression began Thurmond’s decline. The Bank of Thurmond closed in ’31. The Dunglen burned the year before. The C&O began switching from steam to diesel locomotives in the1940s, taking away Thurmond’s main reason for being.

But Thurmond is still there. What’s left of downtown is on the National Register of Historic Places. It stood in for Matewan in John Sayles’ movie of the same name.

Some folks still call the town home. According to the woman behind the counter at the visitors’ center in the old depot, Thurmond was the only town in West Virginia with 100 percent participation in the most recent presidential election. All four voters turned out.

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Brooks Falls

Can you find the kayak and paddle in this photo?

Just down river from Hinton, WV, you’ll find Brooks Falls. Here’s video of folks running the falls — and not quite running the falls. The background music, by the way, is “John Henry.” Brooks Falls isn’t very far from the Big Bend Tunnel, where John Henry is supposed to have won that steel driving contest with a steam drill. There’s a statue of him up near Big Bend.

Playing in McCoy Falls

That's Brad off in the distance. Get a closer look at him in the video where he plays in McCoy Falls and talks about the New River.

Brad Buchanan, Montgomery County’s outdoor recreation supervisor, thinks it’s pretty special that the New River runs through the outdoors where he recreates. This entry can be a little confusing, because the conversation you’ll hear took place at Whitt-Riverbend Park in Giles County, while the video shows Brad playing in McCoy Falls. But you’ll figure it out.

McCoy Falls

You can see these folks in less placid waters in the McCoy Falls video.

McCoy Falls is a popular spot for tubing and playing in the water. The 2010 New River Expedition passed through them a while back. Here’s the video.

Close up.

The long view.

Some dogs can be comfortable anywhere.