History of Fayetteville and the gorge

The New River Gorge looks like pure wilderness today, which is exactly what makes its history so much fun to chase. For ninety years coal towns lined the river, a county seat on the rim changed hands in the Civil War, and in 1977 a steel arch turned a long, winding crossing into a one-minute drive. Much of it is still out there to find: the rusting tipple at Nuttallburg, the 821 steps down to Kaymoor, and Thurmond's brick row, where coal trains still roll past the old depot.

Here's the short version. Fayette County was formed in 1831, and Fayetteville, then a farm called Vandalia, became its seat in 1837. Both armies wanted the town in the Civil War, and they fought for it at the Battle of Fayetteville on September 10, 1862. Once the railroad came through, Joseph Beury shipped the first New River smokeless coal from Quinnimont in 1873, and company towns filled the river bottom. The county accepted its Romanesque courthouse on November 22, 1895. At Hawks Nest, a tunnel dug from 1930 to 1932 killed an unknown number of its mostly Black workers with silica dust, and the Kaymoor mine closed in 1962.

Then the gorge reinvented itself. Commercial rafting began at Thurmond in 1968, the bridge was dedicated on October 22, 1977, President Carter signed the law creating the national river on November 10, 1978, and the first Bridge Day came on November 8, 1980. The national park and preserve followed on December 27, 2020. The story isn't finished, either: Thurmond's council voted in August 2026 to seek counsel against the Park Service's planned demolitions, which WOAY reported on September 16 could begin as soon as November. No lawsuit had been reported filed as of September 22.

Dig into the stories

Fayetteville's founding and Civil War

A rye field becomes a county seat in 1837, both armies take the town, and a Romanesque courthouse rises by 1895.

Read the guide

The coal towns of the gorge

Walk into the ruins of Nuttallburg and Kaymoor and meet Thurmond, the boom town that shipped their coal, 1873 to 1962.

Read the guide

From national river to national park

A 1977 deal in a Thurmond church, the 1978 national river and the 2020 law that made the gorge the 63rd national park.

Read the guide

The bridge and Bridge Day

How ironworkers built the arch from 1974 to 1977, and how one man's night jump in 1979 turned into Bridge Day.

Read the guide

The Thurmond demolition fight

The Park Service plans to tear down historic buildings in Thurmond, and the tiny town has lined up lawyers to fight it.

Read the guide

How rafting changed Fayetteville

From four paddlers at Thurmond in 1968 to the outfitters that helped turn a coal town into a river town.

Read the guide

More on the way: the Hawks Nest Tunnel disaster. Each one shows up here when it's published.

Where to see the gorge's history in 2026

Most of these are free, and several string together into a good half-day from town. Hours shift with the seasons and with staffing, so call before a long drive. Status as of September 22, 2026.

Every gorge site on this list sits inside the national park, and the park guide has hours, closures and where to stay while you explore.

Great local stories, with an asterisk

Every old town has a few tales that grow in the retelling. You'll hear these, so here's where they stand.

• The "first indirect artillery fire" at Fayetteville in May 1863: a 1979 state marker says so, while the town's own 1990 National Register nomination calls it "an obvious historical fallacy."
• Henry Ford at Nuttallburg: the Park Service says his company leased the mines in the 1920s, others say he bought them, and everyone agrees he was gone by 1928.
• The Hawks Nest death toll: the 1986 marker records 109 admitted deaths and a congressional hearing's 476, the 2012 memorial says an estimated 764, and the Park Service gives an estimated 700 to 2,000. None of them is official.
• How many Thurmond structures face demolition: counts published in 2025 and 2026 run from 12 put out to bid to about 20 slated.
• The courthouse is sometimes dated 1897. That's the Altamont Hotel; the courthouse was accepted in 1895.

Want to go deeper?

The original records are free to read online: the National Register nominations for the courthouse, Fayetteville's historic district, Thurmond and the bridge, the Park Service's 2008 history of the national river, and the West Virginia Encyclopedia. The Fayette County Historical Society, founded in 1926, and the Park Service's New River Gorge Oral History Project ([email protected]) hold much more. For a rainy afternoon, look for J. T. Peters and H. B. Carden's History of Fayette County (1926), Tim McKinney's Civil War in Fayette County (1988), Terry Lowry's September Blood (1985), Lou Athey's Kaymoor: A New River Community (1986), Ken Sullivan's Thurmond: A New River Community (1989) and Martin Cherniack's The Hawk's Nest Incident (1986).