1969 Map of Thurmond

About this map

New River meanders deeply through the heart of the West Virginia coalfields in this late 1960s survey, anchoring a landscape defined by vertical relief and heavy industry. The Chesapeake and Ohio railroad tracks follow the river's tight bends, serving a string of narrow riverside settlements including Thurmond, Stone Cliff, and Quinnimont. Away from the water, the terrain rises sharply toward Sewell Mountain and Garden Ground Mountain, where the land is heavily marked by strip mines, mine dumps, and numerous unnamed mine portals. The map captures the specialized infrastructure of the era, from a conveyor tipple near Hamilton Branch to the substation at Brooklyn. Local life is recorded through family-linked landmarks like Calvin Church and Mollys Creek, alongside the established boundaries of Babcock State Park in the northeast corner.