The coal towns, or "coal camps" of Fayette County, West Virginia were situated to exploit the area's rich coal seams. Many of these towns were located in deep ravines that afforded direct access to the coal through the hillsides, allowing mined coal to be dropped or conveyed downhill to railway lines at the valley floor. Many of these encampments were set up as company towns, and when their mines closed, the towns vanished. A few, like Thurmond, West Virginia, have survived in a reduced state. Fayette County covers portions of three coalfields: the New River Coalfield, the Kanawha Coalfield and the Greenbrier Coalfield. Below is a partial list of known coal towns within the three coalfields: the New River Coalfield, the Kanawha Coalfield and the Greenbrier Coalfield. More may be found here
New River Coalfield
Ames Bachman (abandoned) Beury (abandoned) Brooklyn Brown (abandoned) Caperton (abandoned) Carlisle Claremont (abandoned) Clifftop (abandoned) Concho (abandoned) Cunard Dimmock (abandoned) Elmo (abandoned, later named Ames) Elverton (abandoned) Fayette (abandoned) Fire Creek (abandoned) Glen Jean Harvey Kay Moor (abandoned) Kilsyth Layland Lawton (abandoned) Lochgelly MacDonald Minden Mount Hope Newlyn (abandoned) Nuttalburg (abandoned) Prudence Red Ash (abandoned) Red Star Rush Run (abandoned) Scarbro Sewell (abandoned) Stone Cliff (abandoned) Sugar Creek (abandoned) Summerlee Sun (abandoned) Sunnyside (abandoned) Thayer Thurmond Turkey Knob Whipple Wingrove
Kanawha Coalfield
Beards Fork Cannelton Carbondale Collinsdale Eagle (abandoned) Elkridge Gamoca (abandoned) Harewood (abandoned) Ingram Branch (abandoned) Jodie Kimberly Kingston (abandoned) Longacre (abandoned) Long Branch (abandoned) McDunn (abandoned) Marting (abandoned) Milburn (abandoned) Page Pax Powellton Vanetta (abandoned) Willis Branch Wyndal (abandoned)
Greenbrier Coalfield
Beelick Knob Bellwood
References