Sharon is an
unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...
and
coal town
A coal town, also known as a coal camp or patch, is a type of company town or mining community established by the employer, a mining company, which imports workers to the site to work the mineral find. The company develops it and provides residen ...
in southeastern
Kanawha County
Kanawha County ( ) is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 180,745, making it West Virginia's most populous county. The county seat is Charlest ...
,
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 ...
, United States, located along the
West Virginia Turnpike
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...
.
Geography
Sharon is located at (38.159549, -81.447059)
along
Cabin Creek.
The National Map
accessed 19 October 2016. It has an elevation of 673 feet (205 m).
Transportation
Sharon is located on Secondary State Route 79/3, locally known as Cabin Creek Road. Exit 79 of Interstate 77
Interstate 77 (I-77) is a north–south Interstate Highway in the eastern United States. It traverses diverse terrain, from the mountainous state of West Virginia to the rolling farmlands of North Carolina and Ohio. It largely supplants the ...
is located here; no services are available at the exit.
Until the 1980s, a rail spur ran from the CSX
CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...
railroad tracks up a short hollow, serving a coal mine tipple. The remnants of the tracks and rail bed can still be seen at present day along Paint Branch, however, no sign remains of the at-grade crossing of Cabin Creek Road or the trestle that crossed Cabin Creek.
As a result of the badly needed upgrade of the West Virginia Turnpike to Interstate standards, multiple homes occupying the adjacent land were bought by the state and demolished.
The cemetery is hidden behind the few homes that sit at the bottom of Sharon Hill or some call Sharon mountain. There are about 12 houses in the hollow and a church at the bottom to the left as soon as you cross the Cabin Creek bridge. If you park at the church you can walk up the road and behind the houses the mountain cemetery begins. There are generations of graves here back farther than 1700. It is a straight up hike with a narrow path of family plot after plot. This trek is not for the weary. There are rattlesnakes and it is steep. The families buried here have mined coal and farmed the Appalachias for centuries. Some of the family names include Basham, Totten, Burns, Perry, Harlow, and many more. This mountain forest cemetery is covered in flowers from top to bottom from families who keep their family traditions.
Sharon had a United States Post Office until the early 1990s, the ZIP code was 25182.
References
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Unincorporated communities in Kanawha County, West Virginia
Unincorporated communities in West Virginia
Coal towns in West Virginia