Mink Shoals is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

along U.S. Route 119 in

Kanawha County Kanawha County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 180,745, making it West Virginia's most populous county. The county seat is Charleston, which is also the state capital and most po ...

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

, United States and can be accessed by

Interstate 79 Interstate 79 (I-79) is an Interstate Highway in the Eastern United States, designated from I-77 in Charleston, West Virginia, north to Pennsylvania Route 5 (PA 5) and PA 290 in Erie, Pennsylvania. It is a primary thoroughfare t ...

, Exit 1. It is located on the Elk River and has a public access site of the Elk River. Its rural-like feel attracts many residents, although it is only slightly over two miles from the Charleston city limits. It is located at an altitude of 571 feet (174 m). It also has an elementary school, Shoals Elementary.

History

Mink Shoals' first resident was Felix Mayer. Felix was born in Wertenberg, Germany on August 17, 1829. Felix married Dorothy Ryder and cleared a farm along what is now the Dutch Road area, which became one of the most successful in the county. Among Felix and Dorothy's sons were George and Frank Mayer. Frank was born in 1860 and was a prominent figure in Kanawha County. All of these people are buried in a private family cemetery on Dutch Road.

References

Unincorporated communities in Kanawha County, West Virginia Unincorporated communities in West Virginia Populated places on the Elk River (West Virginia) {{KanawhaCountyWV-geo-stub