Osceola is a former

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...

community in eastern

Randolph County Randolph County is the name of eight counties in the United States: *Randolph County, Alabama *Randolph County, Arkansas *Randolph County, Georgia *Randolph County, Illinois *Randolph County, Indiana *Randolph County, Missouri *Randolph County, Nort ...

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

, USA. It was located within what is now the

Monongahela National Forest The Monongahela National Forest is a national forest located in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia, USA. It protects over of federally managed land within a proclamation boundary that includes much of the Potomac Highlands Regi ...

on Gandy Creek at the southern extremity of Little Middle Mountain and Yokum Knob. The community was named after

Osceola Osceola (1804 – January 30, 1838, Asi-yahola in Muscogee language, Creek), named Billy Powell at birth in Alabama, became an influential leader of the Seminole people in Florida. His mother was Muscogee, and his great-grandfather was a S ...

, a Seminole chief. During the period 1900 to 1915, Osceola was a sizable lumbering town of several hundred loggers, timbermen, sawmill operators and saloonkeepers who made the most of the then booming

timber industry Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production Lumber and wood products, including timber for framing, plywood, and woodworking, are create ...

.Preble, Jack, ''Land of Canaan: Plain Tales from the Mountains of West Virginia'',

Parsons, West Virginia Parsons is the county seat and largest city in Tucker County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 1,322 at the 2020 census. The mayor of Parsons is Dorothy Judy and the city administrator is Jason Myers. The city is also governed by ...

McClain Printing Company The McClain Printing Company (MPC) is a printing company specializing in books of West Virginia history and lore. The company was incorporated in 1958 in Parsons, West Virginia as an outgrowth of the local weekly newspaper, the ''Parsons Advocate'' ...

, 1st ed., 1960; 2nd ed., 1965, 3rd ed., 1971, pg 82. Today, virtually no trace of the former settlement is evident. A few scattered hunting camps and farmhouses occupy the area. Osceola was very near the celebrated

Sinks of Gandy Creek The Sinks of Gandy — also called the Sinks of Gandy Creek, or simply "The Sinks" — are a modestly celebrated cave and underground stream at Osceola, West Virginia, Osceola in eastern Randolph County, West Virginia, United States. The Sinks are ...

and modern maps as often designate the place as “The Sinks”.

References

Unincorporated communities in Randolph County, West Virginia Unincorporated communities in West Virginia Logging communities in the United States {{RandolphCountyWV-geo-stub