CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A resolution passed in the House of Delegates Tuesday to preserve West Virginia’s historic buildings, coal camp buildings, and coal heritage sites in Thurmond, West Virginia, and across the state.
Heading up House Resolution 6 was Delegate Elliot Pritt (R- Fayette), who received a lot of support for the resolution.
It’s in lieu of the National Park Service’s proposal to demolish 21 of the 35 deteriorating and excess buildings within the historic coal town of Thurmond located within the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve in Fayette County.
Pritt said structures in these historic towns need to be preserved, because they are getting to be a dwindling and a somewhat rare sight to see in the Mountain State, despite being a major part of its history.
“There’s not much left of this heritage physically when it comes to structures and buildings, whether poverty or arson, or just nature itself has taken a lot of these buildings back, and they weren’t built well to begin with, a lot of them,” said Pritt.
Pritt said Thurmond is unique in the sense that many of the original homes and buildings still stand, what he says in particularly sharp contrast compared to other area coal communities which are overrun or completely gone.
He said when the National Park Service took over the area, everyone understood and believed that they were going to be preserving those structures, as well as the history and heritage they bring with them, but he said the park service backtracked on that promise due to budget cuts.
Pritt said this resolution is an effort to save these places that mean so much to those who live near them, and whose earlier relatives called home.
“This resolution simply re-affirms our support for the preservation of our history, or our coal mining heritage, of which there’s not much left,” he said.
Pritt said coal communities like Thurmond embody the essence of Appalachian culture.
He said while some of the structures need to come down, most do not, and tearing them down would be destroying the history the park service promised to preserve.
“It’s a big deal, this is our nation’s newest national park in our backyard, and they want to tear down half of what’s left,” Pritt said.
Thurmond was accessible solely by rail until 1921. It served as the filming location for the 1987 movie Matewan.
A copy of the resolution has now been forwarded to the Town of Thurmond and the NPS.