Landgraff (sometimes Landgraaf) is an unincorporated community in McDowell County, West Virginia. It is located along U.S. Route 52 and Elkhorn Creek approximately 6.4 miles (10.3 km) east of the county seat of Welch.
[edit] History
Landgraff is one of many historical coal camps in the famed Pocahontas coalfield. The town is named after Constance Landgraff Andrews, the wife of a coal company executive.[citation needed] The Empire Coal Company Store, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was located in Landgraff but has since burned down.[citation needed] The Landgraff Post Office closed in 1951, and the town lost its zip code. The population of Landgraff in the 1960s was approx. 700. The Empire Coal and Coke Company Miner's Clubhouse, built in 1922 of brick to replace a wooden structure that had burned down, is on the West Virginia "Coal Heritage Trail" (America's Byways). It was flooded in the 2001 and 2002 floods that devastated southern West Virginia, was restored in 2002, and opened as the "Elkhorn Inn and Theatre", an historic inn (named for Elkhorn Creek that runs behind the Inn) that is the state's only "Coal Heritage Trail" property offering lodging and dining. The Inn houses a small museum with mine scrip (company-printed coinage used to pay miners until the 1960s), books, documents, coal core samples, photos, artwork, and other memorabilia on the area's history of railroading and coal mining. The famed "Pocahontas" line of the Norfolk Southern Railroad (formerly Norfolk Western) runs along Route 52 past the Inn. The Landgraff Mine coal tipple was located a short distance from the Inn.
[edit] Landgraff today
In 2001 and 2002, a pair of devastating floods along Elkhorn Creek destroyed much of the town. Today, one of the only surviving buildings is the former Elkhorn Coal miner's clubhouse, which now serves as a private bed and breakfast. Coal trains continue to rumble through the heart of the area on Norfolk Southern Railway's (former Norfolk and Western Railway) Pocahontas Division.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
