Many years ago my husband drove me thru these hills. Many years ago my husband and I drove into those hills in W. V. We happened upon a woman who was sitting outside her home (shack). We got to talking and she suddenly gets up to go inside her house and came out w/ an incredibly beautiful patchwork quilt that she wanted to sell us for $20. It’s beautiful - we gave her (5) $20 bills and some smaller bills - that’s all we had on us. I buried my husband in it 🙏 and I’m glad I did so.
Aww.. that's a really nice story and happy you got to experience that. 🙃 The area is full of really nice people in my experience.. drugs have made an impact over the years but I've had nothing but pleasantries with the people in the area. Thank you for the story 💖
I visited a friend of mine in West Virginia back in the 80's. They had just bought a small house with land. Back then, a piece of property was going for under $10,000 for an 4 acres. They were very happy there, the neighbors were fantastic. Very rustic, and I loved the wood stove. I fell in love with West Virginia, and I'll never forget John Denver's song West Virginia, country mama ... It's just saddens me that those older ones have all passed away and their kids are gone too (moved out of the town). Their homes were simple and so modest. It was like stepping back in a time of peace and security. Everyone knew who was who, and took care of each other. They really put the true meaning of love thy neighbor so many years ago. I appreciate you driving through the Holler of Thurmond. I've never been there, but it reminds me of the place I did go when visiting my friends.
Thats awesome.. There's still alot of that in the small towns.. drugs took their tolls but places like hinton and welch and those little towns built on the hills and rivers are still right off of a postcard scene. I've been looking at land and it's still ridiculously cheap for 2024 😃
I grew up in Thurmond in the 70's & 80's. We lived in the 2nd yellow house on the left after the 1st big U corner. My aunt, uncle & cousins lived in the yellow house before ours. My great uncle lived in the green house up on the hill to the right after my house. It had around 60 people in it back then. We has electricity, burnt coal & wood for heat & an alternate source for cooking when the power would go out. The water ran down off the mountain & collected in a huge tank for that part of the town. In the winter the water pump would freeze, so we always made sure we had enough water to last awhile if it did. Lots of great memories growing up there.
That is awesome.. I would have absolutely loved to live their as a kid in a thriving little community. Being a kid around all that wilderness and next to the river.. I'm sure it would get boring after awhile but the 70s and 80s were a different time altogether and not as many things to sidetrack us. I know its a shadow of what it used to be and it's sad but time marches on I guess. I appreciate the post 👋
I wonder if it's possible for anyone to buy a house or property there or is this whole town now off limits, as if it's a national park now? I would love to live somewhere like this
@@JohnSmith-nw2ls. Most of it is owned by the National Park Service. They won't sale it once they get it. Some of the property there is still owned by private residents. They might sale it.
@@jojogoins The federal government is not constitutionally permitted to own any land outside of DC, so how is it they keep getting a hold of these large swaths of land and making them off limits for our use? In some states they claim to own as much as 80% of the state. This is because most people don't know or care what their government is or is not allowed to do. At this rate there will eventually be no place for us to live, as we can see the streets continue to fill up with homeless people.
WV is an interesting and beautiful state. I saw a man riding a horse through the drive thru at McDonald's in Grafton, WV. After he ordered and rode to the window to get his food, the person at the window fed the horse oatmeal. After leaving the window he rode over to a sign at the edge of the parking lot, tied the rein around the post and ate. When he left he proceeded to the road and joined a line of cars at the traffic light. When the light turned green and the traffic began to move he had the horse at a trot, passed through the light and then galloped on down the road. Still wishing I would have had a camera to film that. Nice video. Thanks for sharing the ride.
Very welcome 😃 There's alot of that type of construction in Appalachia.. they either build on the hillside or dig into the hillside and flatten it out so they can build.. makes for neat homes and structures 👋
@@travsteelmanawe, I identified with one that house in my YT stream, recognizing it as WV. My now 90 year old aunt always lived in those hillside rentals in Logan County, where I grew up. Saddens me I can’t visit here now that she’s 90, but I relocated in 1989 for work, so am now disabled at age 62 & haven’t driven in over a year due to vision & mobility issues. Admittedly cried watching you video, as the broken one lane road around that mountain reminded me of the road through Harts Creek to my grandparents home when I was a little girl, so tears of joy & fond memories. Haha I remember Mom growling at Dad for driving too fast, although her warning was right: never know what’s around the next curve or where the road had broken off, leading to a steep drop into those beautiful trees & rattlers! As a Daddy’s girl, I laughed, knowing my Dad was “Superman” so could fly us to safety regardless. Now, I live in a small, comfortable house in NC, a Type A personality turned recluse hiding my shame after medical issues piled on after a guy in a truck bigger than mine ran a red light in 2000. Awe, I went back to work, but by 2005 medical specialists denied me a work return clearance bc at 5’2” I had “the spine of a 70 year old working man”. Fortunately, I married & had a son back when I was age 14 & knew everything lol. Yes, feeding the cliches of West Virginia child brides, but my husband was only 16 & of no relation to my family. He & I are still friends and I bought the house next door to my son & his family once invited by my daughter inlaw, bc God blessed me with a grandson to help raise early 2006. My lift limit was 5 lbs. but I was surrounded by friends to help while my son & his wife were both working, keeping the desire to live in me. My grandson is an adult now, hasn’t really needed supervision since around age ten, with me next door. So I spend too much time on UA-cam, although I mind my own without harming anyone. Sometimes, like this evening, I am blessed with a visit to my childhood, thanks to you & a couple other. It was my Mom’s sister who spent her life in those hillside rentals with her exhusband & children, while we lived several mountains away near a little town named Man bc my Dad worked in the coal mines there as a UMWA electrician. Only 2 states away was as different as though we relocated to a different country, so I earnestly appreciate these videos after leaving in the eighties during “the great falling away”. But that’s a story for another day. Thank you very much for a quality video with very professional, high quality photography and audio. May GBU & yours with long, healthy & prosperous lives. Pardon typos from arthritic fingers & wonky eyes, but I enjoyed this so much that I would have felt like a troll to leave without telling you how appreciative I am to you for your kindness and work. ~
Sure, it may be abandoned, but it's in great shape. No graffiti, no burned out buildings, no trash on the roads or smashed windows. It looks like a place people took pride in. Pride that still pays tribute to those who have come before.
People still appreciate it and treat it well.. it's not something that you happen across,so,anyone that's there has specifically intended to go appreciate the history.. kinda neat that everyone is on the same page 😃
I have traveled all over WV on motorcycle. Its a beautiful state. But what i really liked was the people. Interesting down to earth people. I am in my 70s now traveled all around the world several times. Theres no place like WV and its people.
I agree.. I live in florida and we've gotten far too busy.. everyone is grumpy and aggressive and in each other's way. West Virginia is like another planet compared to here 👋
Thanks for the tour. I kept expecting the road to be totally washed out in places -- but it wasn't. And abandoned houses to be trashed -- but they didn't seem to be. Very good that folks are respecting Thurmond. There were many more houses there than I expected: I thought the first set of them would be it for the town. Thank you.
Glad you liked it! It used to be a boom town with probably 5 times as many structures but a few burned and time did in the rest of them.. People are really respectful of it because you have to make a point to visit it and not alot of people live close so it's not a weekend hangout 😀
Thanks for sharing...absolutely breathtaking views definitely want to visit and stay at the bnb...or permanently looks so well taken care of ...really appreciate the ones who have kept up with the upkeep of the town...may all travelers who visit do the same not just here...everyone everywhere ❤
y just curious. My daughter used to live in WV in a few different places. Ive been 3 times didnt get no weird vibes but i have alot of other places and i do get where your comimg from.
I might be wrong but i believe there is a toxics problem in the Thurman Minden area, PCBs etc dumped. Hopefully with National Park New River Gorge designation it will be cleaned up soon if it hasnt already
Pretty much every year and quite a bit.. it snowed the last day I was there but missed thurmond.. there was quite a but at the Grandview overlook though. ua-cam.com/video/Y-XFtFinKjI/v-deo.htmlsi=KhUjYnSsNKHRRsXN
It's really nice in West Virginia.... can't exactly explain it but I loved being there. New River near Hinton is real good fishing and stunning. All the people I met were very kind to me.
Hinton is a really neat place.. I stayed in a nice little bed and breakfast there a couple years ago and it's a cool town. The entire new river gorge area is hard to explain the appeal if someone hasn't been there.. just calm and slow and the people really are nice 😃
@@travsteelman I totally agree. Ron and I camped along New River, fished for Bass caught some of the best catfish I have ever tasted. Yeah, trees make a noise when they fall in the forest. Trains on the other side of the river sound like the are comin' thru your tent and the earth moves. Crazy, me much younger and in lust/love some of my best memories. Even waking up to a bear diggin' for the leftovers in the fire pit. Everybody I met was super down to earth. Ron is gone now , sadly but I get to keep.the memories. New river gorge is indeed a place you have to see, and feel to appreciate. Thanks for your post♥️
@@katbow5922 well booo.. sorry about the loss but yes.. memories can't be taken away. I love when the new river is low and the sound of the water on all the boulders at the bottom.. just a pleasant,constant,roar 💖 Thank you 👋
Those NARROW 1 lane roads are scary especially when you going around a blind area! I looked at a really beautiful house in Pineville for a great price but the last 2-3 miles was a road like that, too many blind turns and NO guardrails for the numerous dropoffs, all i could think of was traveling that road in the winter or at night, you could slide off and nobody would ever know you're down there!!!
Cool road, that one on the mountain. It reminds me of some of the roads in far western Morris County, NJ, where I grew up. That's a part of Thurmond I haven't seen on UA-cam. This video came up in my feed, I guess because of watching other videos from Appalachia. By the way, my Mom is a Steelman.
Oh awesome.. im glad the youtube algorithm is getting the oddball videos out for people to see the stuff they don't normally get to.. New Jersey has alot of country around the pine Barron's and stuff that alot of people aren't familiar with.. they just think of a big ole city. My steelman side of the family is mostly in Tennessee.. that's neato
Those cliff houses are typical to river towns. I was raised in Hannibal , Mo. there were several there.when the Mississippi got out it kept those close to the River safe.
I wonder if it's possible for anyone to buy a house or property there or is this whole town now off limits, as if it's a national park now? I would love to live somewhere like this
@@JohnSmith-nw2ls it's owned by the state of west Virginia as far as I know.. homes like this are all over west Virginia at reasonable prices though.. download the realtor app and check it out 😃 I've been looking for years.. the tricky part is finding a job locally that pays the bills.
@@travsteelman Thank you so much for the info, I really appreciate it. I would imagine most land/homes for sale in WV aren't listed on any websites, it would probably take time and lots of foot work in these towns to find something, though I keep hearing there's tons of dirt cheap land/homes for sale in WV. How can government/state claim they own such a large area as this? Every acre of land in the USA has a history, seems so wrong for government to close off place after place in the name of preserving history.
@@redneckrebel6246 yeah there was a big hotel on the other side of the river back in the day but I think it burned down at some point.. used to be a wild place from what I've read. I don't think the school bus runs out that far anymore "it may" but amrak still stops at thurmond station.
@@redneckrebel6246 I follow the thurmond facebook page and there's talk of tearing down a good amount of the existing structures.. they're trying to find the funda to save it so heres hoping
We lived in central WVa and there was only about 6 weeks of hard winter. We didn't have a real problem. Just needed a 4 wheel drive to get up to the hard road where we parked our little Honda.
We lived in central WVa and there was only about 6 weeks of hard winter. We didn't have a real problem. Just needed a 4 wheel drive to get up to the hard road where we parked our little Honda.
I always ahd to go through Thurmond to visit my grandmother who lived in Harvey. On the way to Harvey, you came to Thurmond, which led to Glen Jean. Glen Jean was at the the bottom and you climbed a road similar to this one and ended up in Harvey.
I always thought this was the place to go if World War 3 starts-hide in those mountains! I’m in SC-lived in WV before and I’m glad it is so different from other places. A sense of peace and home. I miss WV. The land is quiet.
@@travsteelman "Eden Lake" has been compared to no-less-a-movie than "Deliverance"!! It's proof that England's backwoods rednecks are just as scary and dangerous as ours! (I'm surprised it hasn't remade Stateside yet!) Trailers are on UA-cam...
I was there last year. I believe there are six houses on River Crest/Thurmond Rd that are lived in or livable. One of the yellow cabins is where I believe the park ranger lives. I believe the house behind the church is lived and another home up a driveway not visible from the road that also appeared to be a rental property.
My wife would HATE IT, she's a city girl. I am a country boy at heart and would love it, assuming a comfy house and sufficient income. It could get very lonely though. Still, I'd prefer it to being woke up in the middle of the night by car "boom boxes" or neighbors with loud party music as is my situation now.
I went there when they were filming Matewan. There were a lot of Hollywood types around. Folks wearing sunglasses and drinking hard alcohol in the middle of the day LOL.
There's alot of that in west Virginia.. homes are either built on the hills or cut into the hills.. the Appalachian mountains don't have alot of flat land so they had to improvise.. easier than moving hundreds of tons of dirt I guess 🤷
And your supposed to be able to drive on that with ice and not expect to crash off the cliff..scary other then that thought beautiful place,sad to see such old houses just barely holding off the last foundation..
@@travsteelman I was racking my Brain. I knew I had heard of Thurmond. I worked for the Social Security Adm in Montgomery, Fayette Co for about 3 and a half years. That office closed, and I transferred to Louisiana. Fayette Co, some parts, so beautiful. I am originally from Logan. I really enjoy your videos.
I am surprised someone who lives there doesn't open a small convenience store/ fast food place. Nowadays with all the microwave fast food from the commercial companies like Swan, they could get frozen single pizza, hamburger, cheeseburger, chicken sandwich, fish sandwich, breakfast sandwiches, etc.. So they could have a few booths with a bunch of sandwiches they could buy and microwave and bags of chips, sodas, and things tourists would buy like hats, shirts, etc And they could have batteries, chargers, stuff that tourist would forget or need. Flash cards. Stuff like that. Figure if you were already living there, having a place open for 4 or 5 hours a day, you could even have a credit card vending machine and have the items in the machine and people could buy them even when you were not open.
It could bring more tourism I guess.. it's so off the beaten path that I've never seen more than a few cars there at once. But amatrak stops through there so that may he a great idea 💡 😀
ua-cam.com/video/x674ZpVPiZQ/v-deo.htmlsi=YIJW3JCIBf3_j5M1 0:05 0:05
This is my first drive through from a few years ago if anyone's interested.
Many years ago my husband drove me thru these hills. Many years ago my husband and I drove into those hills in W. V. We happened upon a woman who was sitting outside her home (shack). We got to talking and she suddenly gets up to go inside her house and came out w/ an incredibly beautiful patchwork quilt that she wanted to sell us for $20. It’s beautiful - we gave her (5) $20 bills and some smaller bills - that’s all we had on us. I buried my husband in it 🙏 and I’m glad I did so.
Aww.. that's a really nice story and happy you got to experience that. 🙃
The area is full of really nice people in my experience.. drugs have made an impact over the years but I've had nothing but pleasantries with the people in the area.
Thank you for the story 💖
Thank you, Marleen. If you don't mind me asking, how old was your husband when he passed. Was it long ago?
My roots run deep....thank you. 🌹
I visited a friend of mine in West Virginia back in the 80's. They had just bought a small house with land. Back then, a piece of property was going for under $10,000 for an 4 acres. They were very happy there, the neighbors were fantastic. Very rustic, and I loved the wood stove. I fell in love with West Virginia, and I'll never forget John Denver's song West Virginia, country mama ... It's just saddens me that those older ones have all passed away and their kids are gone too (moved out of the town). Their homes were simple and so modest. It was like stepping back in a time of peace and security. Everyone knew who was who, and took care of each other. They really put the true meaning of love thy neighbor so many years ago. I appreciate you driving through the Holler of Thurmond. I've never been there, but it reminds me of the place I did go when visiting my friends.
Thats awesome..
There's still alot of that in the small towns.. drugs took their tolls but places like hinton and welch and those little towns built on the hills and rivers are still right off of a postcard scene.
I've been looking at land and it's still ridiculously cheap for 2024 😃
Love videos like this... Thank You...
Thank you 😃
I grew up in Thurmond in the 70's & 80's. We lived in the 2nd yellow house on the left after the 1st big U corner. My aunt, uncle & cousins lived in the yellow house before ours. My great uncle lived in the green house up on the hill to the right after my house. It had around 60 people in it back then. We has electricity, burnt coal & wood for heat & an alternate source for cooking when the power would go out. The water ran down off the mountain & collected in a huge tank for that part of the town. In the winter the water pump would freeze, so we always made sure we had enough water to last awhile if it did. Lots of great memories growing up there.
That is awesome.. I would have absolutely loved to live their as a kid in a thriving little community.
Being a kid around all that wilderness and next to the river.. I'm sure it would get boring after awhile but the 70s and 80s were a different time altogether and not as many things to sidetrack us.
I know its a shadow of what it used to be and it's sad but time marches on I guess.
I appreciate the post 👋
You are a better man for experiencing your childhood here and I can tell you are proud.
I wonder if it's possible for anyone to buy a house or property there or is this whole town now off limits, as if it's a national park now? I would love to live somewhere like this
@@JohnSmith-nw2ls. Most of it is owned by the National Park Service. They won't sale it once they get it. Some of the property there is still owned by private residents. They might sale it.
@@jojogoins The federal government is not constitutionally permitted to own any land outside of DC, so how is it they keep getting a hold of these large swaths of land and making them off limits for our use? In some states they claim to own as much as 80% of the state. This is because most people don't know or care what their government is or is not allowed to do. At this rate there will eventually be no place for us to live, as we can see the streets continue to fill up with homeless people.
very cool. id live there and be perfectly happy....
Same here.. they have an air bnb you can rent that's an original home next to the caretakers houses up on top of town.
Love the mountains and isolation
Me too
What a hole
Me also. My dream town actually
WV is an interesting and beautiful state. I saw a man riding a horse through the drive thru at McDonald's in Grafton, WV. After he ordered and rode to the window to get his food, the person at the window fed the horse oatmeal. After leaving the window he rode over to a sign at the edge of the parking lot, tied the rein around the post and ate. When he left he proceeded to the road and joined a line of cars at the traffic light. When the light turned green and the traffic began to move he had the horse at a trot, passed through the light and then galloped on down the road. Still wishing I would have had a camera to film that. Nice video. Thanks for sharing the ride.
That's awesome.. I guarantee he was a regular and nobody looked twice or thought it was odd.. good stuff 👋
Building those houses on that steep hillside must have been interesting. Thank you for posting this video.
Very welcome 😃
There's alot of that type of construction in Appalachia.. they either build on the hillside or dig into the hillside and flatten it out so they can build.. makes for neat homes and structures 👋
@@travsteelmanawe, I identified with one that house in my YT stream, recognizing it as WV. My now 90 year old aunt always lived in those hillside rentals in Logan County, where I grew up. Saddens me I can’t visit here now that she’s 90, but I relocated in 1989 for work, so am now disabled at age 62 & haven’t driven in over a year due to vision & mobility issues. Admittedly cried watching you video, as the broken one lane road around that mountain reminded me of the road through Harts Creek to my grandparents home when I was a little girl, so tears of joy & fond memories. Haha I remember Mom growling at Dad for driving too fast, although her warning was right: never know what’s around the next curve or where the road had broken off, leading to a steep drop into those beautiful trees & rattlers! As a Daddy’s girl, I laughed, knowing my Dad was “Superman” so could fly us to safety regardless. Now, I live in a small, comfortable house in NC, a Type A personality turned recluse hiding my shame after medical issues piled on after a guy in a truck bigger than mine ran a red light in 2000. Awe, I went back to work, but by 2005 medical specialists denied me a work return clearance bc at 5’2” I had “the spine of a 70 year old working man”. Fortunately, I married & had a son back when I was age 14 & knew everything lol. Yes, feeding the cliches of West Virginia child brides, but my husband was only 16 & of no relation to my family. He & I are still friends and I bought the house next door to my son & his family once invited by my daughter inlaw, bc God blessed me with a grandson to help raise early 2006. My lift limit was 5 lbs. but I was surrounded by friends to help while my son & his wife were both working, keeping the desire to live in me. My grandson is an adult now, hasn’t really needed supervision since around age ten, with me next door. So I spend too much time on UA-cam, although I mind my own without harming anyone. Sometimes, like this evening, I am blessed with a visit to my childhood, thanks to you & a couple other. It was my Mom’s sister who spent her life in those hillside rentals with her exhusband & children, while we lived several mountains away near a little town named Man bc my Dad worked in the coal mines there as a UMWA electrician. Only 2 states away was as different as though we relocated to a different country, so I earnestly appreciate these videos after leaving in the eighties during “the great falling away”. But that’s a story for another day. Thank you very much for a quality video with very professional, high quality photography and audio. May GBU & yours with long, healthy & prosperous lives. Pardon typos from arthritic fingers & wonky eyes, but I enjoyed this so much that I would have felt like a troll to leave without telling you how appreciative I am to you for your kindness and work. ~
@@crystalbelle2349 I very much appreciate this.. thank you 💖 👋
Sure, it may be abandoned, but it's in great shape. No graffiti, no burned out buildings, no trash on the roads or smashed windows. It looks like a place people took pride in. Pride that still pays tribute to those who have come before.
People still appreciate it and treat it well.. it's not something that you happen across,so,anyone that's there has specifically intended to go appreciate the history.. kinda neat that everyone is on the same page 😃
I give credit to these true Americans for their fortitude and pride of where they live and respect for their ancestors.
The national park service has a lot to do with it I believe.
I love the Appalachian area
I have traveled all over WV on motorcycle. Its a beautiful state. But what i really liked was the people. Interesting down to earth people. I am in my 70s now traveled all around the world several times. Theres no place like WV and its people.
I agree.. I live in florida and we've gotten far too busy.. everyone is grumpy and aggressive and in each other's way.
West Virginia is like another planet compared to here 👋
I like it so quiet and love all the woods and winding road.
It's definitely quite.. a train comes through every now and then and makes a racket but that's about it 😃
I miss these small towns.
Go visit west Virginia.. small towns are alive and well..
Not always thriving but they try.
Me as well.
Interesting drive. That must have been quite the place once. Thanks for the vid.
It was.. used to be a boom town in the 1800s from all the coal.
Amazing, thank you. The Bank is incredible.
Beautiful countryside
Thanks for the tour. I kept expecting the road to be totally washed out in places -- but it wasn't. And abandoned houses to be trashed -- but they didn't seem to be. Very good that folks are respecting Thurmond. There were many more houses there than I expected: I thought the first set of them would be it for the town. Thank you.
Glad you liked it!
It used to be a boom town with probably 5 times as many structures but a few burned and time did in the rest of them..
People are really respectful of it because you have to make a point to visit it and not alot of people live close so it's not a weekend hangout 😀
That sucks, looks like a nice quiet place to live.exellent video bro
It's super peaceful for sure.. thank you 👋
my home town. well the half that is still there
It reminds me of parts of western Massachusetts.
I would love to visit and live there! Thanks for sharing your adventure
with us!
Absolutely.. 😃
You are truly a wonderful person
Yes it's old. But very well maintained. Not a piece of trash to be found ! I bet people don't even have to lock their doors,
Probably not.. everyone treats it well when they come to visit 😃
People still have respect for this town. Notice the windows are not all broken. Imagine if this was Chicago, everything would be destroyed and looted.
Very much so.. people that I've seen there are very conscious of the history and try not to disturb it 👍
Maybe they haven't been corrupted by the idea that you stand up for your rights by destroying things.
Thanks for sharing...absolutely breathtaking views definitely want to visit and stay at the bnb...or permanently looks so well taken care of ...really appreciate the ones who have kept up with the upkeep of the town...may all travelers who visit do the same not just here...everyone everywhere ❤
It's a neat place.. super lush and green in the summer too 😃
Stunning !
It is that 😃
Very interesting drive. Lot of stories there
Love it
Nice. Reminds me of Bear River, Nova Scotia. Same hills, narrow roads, even the architecture.
Probably built in the same Era 😃
If I were 20 years younger I would love to live there.
It's a great area if you have some money and love the solitude.. not alot of jobs around.
Up in the Holler.
Creepy how some of those houses and buildings just hanging off the mountain 😮
And been hanging there 150 years or more 😲
Awesome video. Driving the steep rough roads make it feel even more remote. 😊
Its pretty remote but definitely has that feel with the old single lane roads 😃
I drove thru Virginia. Its scary as hell. Gives me the creeps.
y just curious. My daughter used to live in WV in a few different places. Ive been 3 times didnt get no weird vibes but i have alot of other places and i do get where your comimg from.
I’ve driven through NYC and LA and I was terrified and ready to get the hell out.
I love WV so its great seeing the different places. I was there in the 70s and in 2000. Would love to live there again
It's an awesome,calm place.. I live in florida and escape a few times a year to somewhere calmer.
Very well built older homes
Very cool. Love how it wasn't just hokey music or stupid chatting
Appalachian music is not hokey and its roots are from Scotland and Ireland. It’s music from the heart.
J adore de regarder les maisons américaines ❤❤❤🇨🇵👍
Cool stuff
My dad grew up in breach fork around the Huntington area. It's was just like that. Very poor people
I might be wrong but i believe there is a toxics problem in the Thurman Minden area, PCBs etc dumped. Hopefully with National Park New River Gorge designation it will be cleaned up soon if it hasnt already
i can hear banjos an pigs squealing 😂😂 all jokes aside, this is great. a part of the world I'll NEVER get to visit
I make a few deliverance cracks every time.. que the dueling banjos 🎵 🎵
Does it snow there in winter? If so, that road would be frightening!
Pretty much every year and quite a bit.. it snowed the last day I was there but missed thurmond.. there was quite a but at the Grandview overlook though.
ua-cam.com/video/Y-XFtFinKjI/v-deo.htmlsi=KhUjYnSsNKHRRsXN
It's really nice in West Virginia.... can't exactly explain it but I loved being there. New River near Hinton is real good fishing and stunning. All the people I met were very kind to me.
Hinton is a really neat place.. I stayed in a nice little bed and breakfast there a couple years ago and it's a cool town.
The entire new river gorge area is hard to explain the appeal if someone hasn't been there.. just calm and slow and the people really are nice 😃
@@travsteelman I totally agree. Ron and I camped along New River, fished for Bass caught some of the best catfish I have ever tasted. Yeah, trees make a noise when they fall in the forest. Trains on the other side of the river sound like the are comin' thru your tent and the earth moves. Crazy, me much younger and in lust/love some of my best memories. Even waking up to a bear diggin' for the leftovers in the fire pit. Everybody I met was super down to earth. Ron is gone now , sadly but I get to keep.the memories. New river gorge is indeed a place you have to see, and feel to appreciate. Thanks for your post♥️
@@katbow5922 well booo.. sorry about the loss but yes.. memories can't be taken away.
I love when the new river is low and the sound of the water on all the boulders at the bottom.. just a pleasant,constant,roar 💖
Thank you 👋
Strong resident evil 4 energy in this place.
I'm sayin.. it's a totally different vibe in the summer 😆
Why?
Those NARROW 1 lane roads are scary especially when you going around a blind area! I looked at a really beautiful house in Pineville for a great price but the last 2-3 miles was a road like that, too many blind turns and NO guardrails for the numerous dropoffs, all i could think of was traveling that road in the winter or at night, you could slide off and nobody would ever know you're down there!!!
I just happen upon this video; thank you.
Very welcome.. glad you enjoyed it 😃
so much history
For sure 😃
Cool road, that one on the mountain. It reminds me of some of the roads in far western Morris County, NJ, where I grew up. That's a part of Thurmond I haven't seen on UA-cam. This video came up in my feed, I guess because of watching other videos from Appalachia. By the way, my Mom is a Steelman.
Oh awesome.. im glad the youtube algorithm is getting the oddball videos out for people to see the stuff they don't normally get to..
New Jersey has alot of country around the pine Barron's and stuff that alot of people aren't familiar with.. they just think of a big ole city.
My steelman side of the family is mostly in Tennessee.. that's neato
Those cliff houses are typical to river towns. I was raised in Hannibal , Mo. there were several there.when the Mississippi got out it kept those close to the River safe.
Smart.. we have stilt homes near the coast here in Florida where I live.
I’m not driving & this is scary
Wow… this is what you call peaceful 5:34
Does the Cardinal still stop at the station there?
There's an amtrack stop at thurmond depot 😃
I wonder if it's possible for anyone to buy a house or property there or is this whole town now off limits, as if it's a national park now? I would love to live somewhere like this
@@JohnSmith-nw2ls it's owned by the state of west Virginia as far as I know.. homes like this are all over west Virginia at reasonable prices though.. download the realtor app and check it out 😃
I've been looking for years.. the tricky part is finding a job locally that pays the bills.
@@travsteelman Thank you so much for the info, I really appreciate it.
I would imagine most land/homes for sale in WV aren't listed on any websites, it would probably take time and lots of foot work in these towns to find something, though I keep hearing there's tons of dirt cheap land/homes for sale in WV.
How can government/state claim they own such a large area as this? Every acre of land in the USA has a history, seems so wrong for government to close off place after place in the name of preserving history.
Looks like where Loretta Lynn grew up. Kool!
She was born a coal miners daughter so probably close enough..
Butcher Hollow, Kentucky
@@captseamus 155 miles away from thurmond.. not too far I guess 😃
Not even close in distance or looks.
@sharthun2009 comparing it to butcher holler was just a rhetorical statement, sweetie.
I was waiting for a car to come in the opposite direction
I amazed I've never encountered one.. somebody would he backing up 😃
Was a happening place at 1 time. The other side of the river was party central. Road looks pretty good to me. Doesn't the school bus still run?
@@redneckrebel6246 yeah there was a big hotel on the other side of the river back in the day but I think it burned down at some point.. used to be a wild place from what I've read.
I don't think the school bus runs out that far anymore "it may" but amrak still stops at thurmond station.
@travsteelman the old store across the river, was where wild water unlimited was at. Pretty busy in 70 again. Who knows could happen again down there.
@@redneckrebel6246 I follow the thurmond facebook page and there's talk of tearing down a good amount of the existing structures.. they're trying to find the funda to save it so heres hoping
new sub
They filmed a movie there. All the town scenes for "Matewan" were filmed there, especially the famous shootout with the miners and strike breakers.
I'll have to check that out
I remember that movie well.
I need to make a specific note to find this movie.. apparently James earl Jones is in it 😲
Imagine driving that road when covered in ice😢
It would be an adventure.. may slide right off the edge 😬
We lived in central WVa and there was only about 6 weeks of hard winter. We didn't have a real problem. Just needed a 4 wheel drive to get up to the hard road where we parked our little Honda.
We lived in central WVa and there was only about 6 weeks of hard winter. We didn't have a real problem. Just needed a 4 wheel drive to get up to the hard road where we parked our little Honda.
@@joanwood9480 I think my little corolla could handle it 😆 😃
I always ahd to go through Thurmond to visit my grandmother who lived in Harvey. On the way to Harvey, you came to Thurmond, which led to Glen Jean. Glen Jean was at the the bottom and you climbed a road similar to this one and ended up in Harvey.
Very cool.. must be a neat trip 😃
They filmed the movie Matewan 1987 in town. The Guest House plays a big part.
I've been hearing about that movie.. definitely need to find time to watch it if I can find it 😃
@@travsteelman It’s on YT. It’s good & you’ll recognize a lot of the surroundings 👋
@@samanthab1923 awesome I'll look it up 👋
A very nice video, thanks, I enjoyed it. Historic but very sad, what a tough life for so many good people. Is the railroad still being used?
Thank you 👋
It's very active.. coal trains come through with CSX regularly and AMTRAK stops at thurmond depot 😲
I could dig it !
What would it be like to drive Model T Ford back in the old days ?
A very rough ride.
Bet it's scary at night winter ❄️ must be a birch t😄
Yes and yes I'm sure 😆
What do you do if someone is coming in the opposite direction! Yikes
Someone has to back up 😬
I always thought this was the place to go if World War 3 starts-hide in those mountains! I’m in SC-lived in WV before and I’m glad it is so different from other places. A sense of peace and home. I miss WV. The land is quiet.
It would be a super good place to go..
One of my favorite places on earth. Super nice people too.
This would be a PERFECT location to film an American remake of the infamous British horror classic "Eden Lake" (2008)...!!
I'll have to look it up.. definitely good horror movie material at night
@@travsteelman "Eden Lake" has been compared to no-less-a-movie than "Deliverance"!! It's proof that England's backwoods rednecks are just as scary and dangerous as ours! (I'm surprised it hasn't remade Stateside yet!) Trailers are on UA-cam...
❤❤❤❤❤
This is a national park ..NEW RIVER GORGE NATIONAL PARK
Nice place to explore, rather interesting
Very interesting.. alot of history in that area and even prettier with the leaves on the trees 🌳
How much and how many arces
58 acres according to Google
Almost Heaven
That it is.. good song too 👋
West Virginia is where song
Take me home country road.. john Denver.
Great song 😃
I can see the old people setting around on the porches talking about old times
I'd like to get a time machine and go see it when it was booming.. I may get gunned down in the saloon or something though 😬
O hell yeah I live there in a minute
It's definitely peaceful.. not much to worry about besides supplies and winter snow 😀
I was there last year. I believe there are six houses on River Crest/Thurmond Rd that are lived in or livable. One of the yellow cabins is where I believe the park ranger lives. I believe the house behind the church is lived and another home up a driveway not visible from the road that also appeared to be a rental property.
I know the one is advertised on airbnb.. would be really neat to stay there until you needed supplies and had to leave.
Hell Yeah
I'd live there and be happy. This used to be a thriving town. Sad
It was a boom town in the 1800s..used to be alot more buildings and homes but some burned down or collapsed or got demolished over the years.
Are all those houses vacant
All but 2 0r 3 of them are vacant.. those are occupied by the town council and caretakers year round
@@travsteelman thanks for the video. Very interesting
@@Lazybones52 I did a longer one a few years ago if you want to look back at it.. it's a cool place
My wife would HATE IT, she's a city girl. I am a country boy at heart and would love it, assuming a comfy house and sufficient income. It could get very lonely though. Still, I'd prefer it to being woke up in the middle of the night by car "boom boxes" or neighbors with loud party music as is my situation now.
For sure.. I've thought if renting the air bnb for a few nights but I think I'd go a little stir crazy after a day or two.. if I'm being honest.
Hate to drive that at night. Especially in the rain and fog 😮
It's definitely different 😬
I went there when they were filming Matewan. There were a lot of Hollywood types around. Folks wearing sunglasses and drinking hard alcohol in the middle of the day LOL.
That's awesome.. I still need to find that movie and watch it. Wasn't even aware of it till a few years ago but that would have been a site to see 😀
I have driven that road several times. But, the road is definitely in worse shape than the last time I went down it. That was @ 6 -7 years ago.
Ty for sharing this😊
Very welcome 😃
Why are these housed built stacked up but hanging at the edge of hills and such. ?? 😊
There's alot of that in west Virginia.. homes are either built on the hills or cut into the hills.. the Appalachian mountains don't have alot of flat land so they had to improvise.. easier than moving hundreds of tons of dirt I guess 🤷
Living on the Ridge ❤
Big Foot County 😅
I was looking but nooooooo!
lovely place
The whole area is amazing
👍👍👍
And your supposed to be able to drive on that with ice and not expect to crash off the cliff..scary other then that thought beautiful place,sad to see such old houses just barely holding off the last foundation..
That's a scary road
Probably scarier at night 😬
I am originally from WV, what County is Thurmond in?
Fayette county.. just northeast of beckley 👋
@@travsteelman I was racking my Brain. I knew I had heard of Thurmond. I worked for the Social Security Adm in Montgomery, Fayette Co for about 3 and a half years. That office closed, and I transferred to Louisiana. Fayette Co, some parts, so beautiful. I am originally from Logan. I really enjoy your videos.
@@kathyrama4570 nice! I stayed in Fayetteville when I was up there and it's relatively close to thurmond and the new river area in general..
Thanks 😃
In those snowstorms how to get out of there if you not a retired person
It would be pretty hard.. there's only a few people living there and I think they're paid by the state to look after the town.
I am surprised someone who lives there doesn't open a small convenience store/ fast food place.
Nowadays with all the microwave fast food from the commercial companies like Swan, they could get frozen single pizza, hamburger, cheeseburger, chicken sandwich, fish sandwich, breakfast sandwiches, etc..
So they could have a few booths with a bunch of sandwiches they could buy and microwave and bags of chips, sodas, and things tourists would buy like hats, shirts, etc
And they could have batteries, chargers, stuff that tourist would forget or need. Flash cards. Stuff like that.
Figure if you were already living there, having a place open for 4 or 5 hours a day, you could even have a credit card vending machine and have the items in the machine and people could buy them even when you were not open.
It could bring more tourism I guess.. it's so off the beaten path that I've never seen more than a few cars there at once.
But amatrak stops through there so that may he a great idea 💡 😀
Because they cook real food
Thanks for sharing
For sure smile 😃
Played on 2x speed feels like a scary roller coaster. 😂
Epic.. now I gotta try it.
Cool
Thanks 😃
I'd be scared turd less at the road.
It gets worse but I avoided it 🤪