Stotesbury 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 former

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 Raleigh County in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

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 ...

that flourished during the 1930s. The community was named for

Edward T. Stotesbury Edward Townsend "Ned" Stotesbury (February 26, 1849 – May 16, 1938) was a prominent investment banker, a partner in Philadelphia's Drexel & Co. and its New York affiliate J. P. Morgan & Co. for over fifty-five years. He was involved in ...

, then the president of Beaver Coal Company. Stotesbury was the home of the late eight-term

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

Robert C. Byrd Robert Carlyle Byrd (born Cornelius Calvin Sale Jr.; November 20, 1917 – June 28, 2010) was an American politician and musician who served as a United States senator from West Virginia for over 51 years, from 1959 until his death in 2010. A ...

. Currently there are only a handful of houses left from the once bustling town.

Mining

The Stotesbury mining camp is located in the

Winding Gulf Coalfield The Winding Gulf Coalfield is located in western Raleigh County and eastern Wyoming County, in southern West Virginia. It is named after the Winding Gulf stream, a tributary of the Guyandotte River. In the early 20th century, it was promoted as ...

. It was originally operated by the E.E. White Coal Co. and named for

, who was president of Beaver Coal Co. at the time. Mining was in the Beckley seam. In the late 1930s, the Koppers Coal Company took over coal mining operations in Stotesbury, which ended in 1958. In the mid-1960s, Eastern Associated Coal rebuilt the mine and operated in Stotesbury until the mid-1980s. White Mountain LLC rebuilt the mine in 2001, but closed it down one year later, in 2002.

Other buildings

Stotesbury's St. John's Baptist Church has fallen into total ruin and as of 2013, only the foundation stones remain. St. John's Baptist Church was listed as an "Endangered Building" by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The owners of the Stotesbury Coal Camp are still affiliated with Beaver Coal Company in 2006. The Stotesbury Community church is still active The town itself does still have original residential housing.

Gallery

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in West Virginia Unincorporated communities in Raleigh County, West Virginia Coal towns in West Virginia