Located in the heart of the New River Gorge are the remnants of an old mining town. By mining and shipping coal on the the C & O Railroad, Nuttallburg flourished in the late 1800’s. At this historic site, you will see “the most complete coal related industrial sites in the United States”. After parking at the small parking lot, a short walk down a trail leads you to the old coal buildings. At one point in time, Henry Ford actually leased the mine.

One of the most interesting features of the town is the large conveyor that stretches up the side of the gorge to the coal seam. Coal was transported down to the tipple where it was sorted and then loaded into railroad cars.

After walking past the coal buildings, you will see a row of coke ovens. 80 coke ovens once lined the road and were used to convert coal into a fuel called coke.

The ovens have been idle since around 1920.

After walking past the coke ovens, you can see the foundation of the company store.

There are several other hikes in this area. After changing owners several times, mining operations ceased in 1958.

There is a great brochure available from the National Park Service available HERE.

Nuttallburg is probably one of the more isolated and difficult places to visit in the New River Gorge. After leaving the small town of Winona, the road turns to a very narrow one-lane road. The road is winding, steep and gravel in some parts. Please be careful when driving this road. You follow this road for approximately 4 miles until you reach the parking lot. As you are driving along, you will see the old stone pillars of a bridge. A pedestrian suspension bridge once connected Nuttallburg to South Nuttall on the other side of the New River.

Be sure to check out the other places we visited around the New River Gorge!