1958 Map of Big Chimney

About this map

The Elk River winds through this central West Virginia landscape, anchoring a valley of small settlements and transportation corridors just north of the state capital. By the late 1950s, the community of Big Chimney (Clyde) and neighboring Elk Hills (Mink Shoals) served as local hubs, connected by the Baltimore and Ohio railroad line tracing the river's edge. The uplands are defined by a dense network of hollows and forks, such as Aarons Fork and Coopers Creek, where family-named landmarks like Griffith Chapel and the McKinley Sch suggest a long-established rural community structure. To the south, the development of the Kanawha Airport and Coonskin Park signals the encroaching suburban growth of the mid-20th century. Traditional resource extraction remains evident through several labeled mines and strip mines scattered across the ridges, while numerous pipelines cut across the topography, illustrating the region's industrial role in energy transit.