Nuttallburg

West Virginia's ghost towns are coal company towns, owned outright by the mine and abandoned the same way.

The Nuttallburg Coal Mining Complex and Town Historic District is located near Winona, West Virginia in New River Gorge National Park and Preserve. The townsite is almost directly across from the Kay Moor mine and townsite, now abandoned. Like Kay Moor, the town is built around the railroad line at the bottom of the gorge, with an array of coke ovens and mining structures, as well as a bridge across the New River to South Nuttall. Nuttallburg was closely associated with the Nuttallburg underground mine, a room and pillar mine that was sealed in 1958.

Little stands at Nuttallburg today beyond foundations and scattered traces. Foundation-only sites reward visitors who enjoy reading a landscape — bring an old plat map or historic photo if you can find one, and the vanished streets start to reappear.

Its park setting is good news for visitors: maintained access and marked routes, with firm rules about leaving every structure and artifact exactly as you found it.

Enter through the national park and follow designated roads and trails to the site. Federal rules protect every structure and artifact, so plan to look, photograph, and leave everything untouched.

Ghost-town etiquette is simple: take only photographs. Removing artifacts is illegal on public lands and disrespectful everywhere else — and on federal land it can be a serious offense.

The ground itself demands respect: open mine shafts, collapsing floors, and old wells hide in tall grass, cell service is often nonexistent, and help can be hours away. Tell someone your plans, pack more water than you think you'll need — and save the early morning or late afternoon light for your camera.

Want the full story? The Wikipedia article on "Nuttallburg Coal Mining Complex and Town Historic District" covers Nuttallburg in more depth — find the link in Sources below. County archives, historic newspaper collections, and the state historical society are the next stops after that: plat maps, census rolls, and old photographs fill in what a short visit can't. If you make the trip, consider sharing your photos and notes — firsthand reports are how the record of Nuttallburg gets better.