Thurmond, W. VA

How can the true character of a place best be grasped: by reading an ‘official’ historical account or by listening to its inhabitants? Thurmond, a former mining town, has been gradually abandoned and its houses derelict. Eighteen inhabitants, including Mrs Wells, the Mayoress, are still holding out and continue to live in this ghost town, now located in the middle of the nature park through which only a tourist train passes…