1963 Map of Gilbert

About this map

The Guyandotte River winds through the heart of the Stafford District, where the Norfolk and Western Railway follows the riverbanks past industrial coal operations and tight mountain settlements. This 1963 survey, updated with late-1970s photogrammetric data, captures the region's transition as the proposed R. P. Bailey Dam prepared to submerge sections of the valley. Local life centers on coal-country communities like Gilbert, Justice, and Hanover, while the landscape is dotted with small family burial grounds such as the Lester Cems. Evidence of the area's extraction economy is visible in the numerous Strip Mines and the old railroad grade near the river. Remote educational and spiritual sites, including the Longpole Sch and Little Huff Creek Ch, emphasize the dispersed nature of these Appalachian hollows before modern infrastructure altered the terrain.