Lost Communities of Virginia: Paint Bank

An old company house and then a gas station, this is now the home of the Paint Bank Post Office.

Paint Bank, Virginia is tucked away in Craig County and lies between Potts and Peters Mountains. It is said there are more buffalo than people in Paint Bank, and my recent trip there makes me believe this may be true. Locals brag about the dark skies lit with brilliant stars; the Milky Way marks a streak across the night sky, and meteors rain down, bolides among them. The red clay of Paint Bank was used to make both paint and bricks; thus the name.

Tingler’s Mill, still standing, was built in 1863 for grinding grain. The mill is comprised of hand-hewn logs and borders Potts Creek. The land originally was owned by Colonel William whose home, Smithfield Plantation, is situated on the Virginia Tech property here in Blacksburg. Preston led troops in the Revolutionary War and was awarded land grants for his service. Preston's granddaughter and her husband ultimately gained ownership of the property. The old mill was in operation for many years, and unlike most mills, the water to Tingler's was overfed.

Mining was an industry in Paint Bank until the Great Depression when the mining operations ended. This led to no need for the railroad, which soon abandoned the small community. As a result of economic depression, Paint Bank suffered and most residents eked out a living with small family-owned farms.

Today, the most notable structure is the old country store, the center of activity for more than 100 years. The original floors and tin ceiling are still evident, though there is little resemblance to a country store of old. It now houses a restaurant and sells items geared to the tourist trade. The photos that follow capture some of the flavor of Paint Bank.

Lost Communities of Virginia: Pocahontas

Here's the description found on the website of the Lost Communities of Virginia Project at Virginia Tech:

"Virginia's back roads and rural areas are dotted with traces of once-thriving communities. General stores, train depots, schools, churches, banks, and post offices provide intriguing details of a way of life now gone. The buildings may be empty or repurposed today, the existing community may be struggling to survive or rebuilding itself in a new and different way, but the story behind each community's original development is an interesting and important footnote to the development of Virginia and the United States.

Lost Communities of Virginia documents thirty small communities from throughout the Commonwealth that have lost their original industry, transportation mode, or way of life. Using contemporary photographs, historical information, maps, and excerpts of interviews with longtime residents of these communities, the book documents the present conditions, recalls past boom times, and explains the role of each community in regional settlement."

After reading about this recently published book by the Lost Communities project in the Roanoke Times, I knew I had to have it. Since I moved to Southwest Virginia in 1972, I have been fascinated by the very places that are the focus of this excellent tome. I ordered the book and was eager to begin reading the day it arrived in my mailbox. As I scanned the table of content to see what places were included, I got quite excited. Many of the lost communities are ones I already knew about and had visited it the past. The book renewed my interest in visiting them again. So, I decided that every week or so I would take an outing to one of these places. This past weekend my friends and I made the trek to Pocahontas. About twenty years ago, I went to Pocahontas to visit the Exhibition Coal Mine. Since that time, much has changed. The population is down to a bit more than 400, and many of the original buildings are crumbling. The community is a mixture of well maintained structures and ones in ruins. As I walked around snapping photographs, I sensed that there is still a strong spirit in the town. Residents sat on old covered porches talking, and one car with two young women stopped and one of them hollered out the widow, "Are ya'll from around here?" Perhaps it was disconcerting to the locals to have outsiders wielding cameras snapping away to preserve memories of their short stay in Pocahontas.

The place is so small you can walk the entire village in about an hour. Once home to almost 3000 residents--with 45 saloons--in the late 1800s Pocahontas grew up around the coal mine. The best bituminous coal in the world came from Pocahontas, with the seam of coal reaching ten feet thick. In 1938, the section of the mine in Pocahontas was closed and reopened as an exhibition. The walk through the old mine is fascinating as the guide points out fossils, "widow makers" (entire vertical fossilized trees that can let loose at any moment killing anyone underneath), and mining equipment.

Following are pictures I snapped while walking along the streets of Pocahontas.

Some structures are beyond repair.

This photo and the next one show that even a small community can support various denominations. There were more churches to photograph but it started raining so I gave up and headed for the car.

The old commercial district.

A front porch ornament

An interesting light fixture.

Masonic Lodge

The American Legion

The Opera House, c. 1884. This served as the center for entertainment Above the door at the bottom right is a sign that says, "Court".

A rusting firetruck sitting in the ruins of the old firehouse.

Squaw and Buck Grocery Store

Post Office

The old hotel

The above five photos show the collapsed company store.