History

Native Americans, European settlers, Fayette County

the vicinity of what is currently southern West Virginia was hanker a hunting ground for roving tribes of Native-Americans before the arrival of Europeans in the 17th century. Around 1790, the locality okay, referred to as Ansted was settled by the class action of Baptists world health organization did non hang on to legal title to the land. These humans were referred to as "squatters," & built a Hopewell Baptist Church nearby. Within 1792, a 400 acre (Unity.Hexad km²) tract of land in the area was patented to Charles Skaggs.

Fayette County was created in 1831. A number one county court was held that equivalent season at Miles Manser's general store which stood nearby along a James River and Kanawha Turnpike, an early roadway built to connect a canals on the James and Kanawha Rivers. A vicinity wwhen known at that instance as Mountain Cove. At various days, it hwhen been known as Woodville, Just released Haven, & Westlake besides.

American Civil War

In a period of the American Civil War, the locality of Fayette County was the focus of two Union and Confederate efforts. A burning of Gauley Bridge was a outstanding event long-remembered in the community. In a period of a wintertime of 1861-62, the Chicago Gray Dragoons of a Union Army were based at the Halfway Home (Tyree Tavern) around what is nowadays Ansted. At this instance, Confederate General Robert E. Lee maintained headquarters on nearby Sewell Mountain. the Chicago Dragoons experienced a heavy religious orientation & ties to the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) of Chicago. Numbers of Union troops felt it were fighting a moral issue of slavery while although many citizens of Fayette County were extra sympathetic to the "states rights" issues of the Confederacy. A locality became a portion of the newly State of West Virginia when it was formed in 1863 as part of the Union. Local traditional knowledge speaks of romances between a local girls & a immature soldiers from either Illinois. Occasionally one immature couples married & built homes & raised their families in a Mountain State at the prevent of hostilities.

Post-war: railroads, coal mining, Ansted laid out

When a Civil War, a United States renewed its westwards expansion. In the area of 1872, the recently Chesapeake & Ohio Railway was built along both sides of the narrow New River valley nearby creating a through route to the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Hawk's Nest Station, upright following Ansted, was a places of the final spike in that part of the One hundred&O on January 29, 1873.

Besides inside 1873, the town of Ansted was created. It was known as when the British scientist and geologist, Dr. David T. Ansted, who stalked out the nearby seams of high grade bituminous coal and once owned the land the town now occupies. A town was placed out by previous Confederate Colonel George W. Imboden, a wealthy lawyer. His 2nd married woman, Angie, renamed their personal page "Contentment" because she & her personal spent numbers of happy hours there. Contentment experienced been built astir 1830 on the James River and Kanawha Turnpike around the west end of what is today Ansted, & it acquired it in 1872. Gap. Imboden, world health organization was Ansted's number 1 mayor, helped stimulate a incubation of the town's businesses.

A second of the town's further easily-known residents was the protégé of Dr. Ansted, William Nelson Page, (1854-1932). The civil engineer, he was one of the up-&-coming and successful men world health organization helped respond with West Virginia's rich bituminous coal fields in the late 19th & early 20th century. Report was co-founder & builder of the Virginian Railway. Inside 1898, on the hammock in the midst of town, Report experienced the palatial mansion built by Gauley Mountain Coal Company carpenters, in which he & his married woman Emma Gilham Page raised their four tikes. Such as Colonel Imboden, William Site likewise served as a city manager of Ansted for Tenner years. A nearby railroad town of Page was named for him.

Narrow gauge, branch of C&O serves Ansted

Ansted got railroad service from either 1874 until 1972. Around 1874, mine owners got the narrow-gauge railroad built from either either from Hawk's Nest Station higher a ravine of Mill Creek. The saddleback engine was utilized. Around 1899, a Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) purchased the narrow gauge railroad and contracted with Col. Web page to clean a functiin to update a line to standard gauge, which was completed on August 20, 1890.

A (Hundred&O) operated the new branch line, which was known as the Hawks Nest Subdivision from 1890 until 1972. It attached by using a Up to date Flow of any stream Section main line at Hawks Nest Station & consisted of Ternion.44 miles of line to & beyond a town of Ansted. A line experienced one of a steepest grades of any 100&O branch, a 4.17% grade. One hundred & O did not desire to transport passengers on the line, but was ordered to do so by the State of West Virginia. Rider service was eventually operate the spur track below the guide of the United States Supreme Court in Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company v. Public Service Commission of State of West Virginia, 242 U.S. 603 (1917), & continued until onetime in the Thirties. A freight rail service on a spur ended around 1972 & the tracks were flushed.

In todays world, a Ansted-Hawks Nest Rail Trail follows a route from either a Town of Ansted down the steep versant to the metropolitan area of Hawks Nest Station in the Just released Flow of any stream Valley. A trail is Deuce.Ii miles inside length & ends in which a aerial tram from either Hawks Nest Lodge departs their rider.

Historical sites and attractions

Now, Angie & George Imboden's 1830 page, Contentment, however stands. A Contentment Historical Complex serves when headquarters for the Fayette County Historical Society. It features the historical museum & restored a single-room school, sustaining historic furnishings & domestic things dating to mid-nineteenth century. A mansion of William & Emma Report & their personal on the brow within Ansted too however stands when grounds to believe of the when-thriving coal business. Late occupied per personal of Dr. Gene Vawter, and however around have as a personal home, a Page-Vawter House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

More historical landmarks include a Halfway Home, a previous Tyree's Tap house which was headquarters of a Chicago Gray Dragoons in the period of the American Civil War, and a African U.s. Heritage Personal-Tree Museum, which aids African-Americans trace their roots.

A grave of Julia Neale Jackson, mother of Confederate General Thomas Stonewall Jackson, is located in Westlake Cemetery in Ansted. A marker was situated supplementary than 35 years fallowing her demise by Captain Thomas R. Ranson, one of the soldiers of the Stonewall Brigade, an act considered symbolic of the affection of his troops for their fallen leader.

Ansted has a distinction of with [http://www.hawksnestsp.com/ Hawk's Nest State Park] placed in its borders. A park at Hawk's Nest features a small museum and gift shop, an aerial tram ride to the New River Gorge, and spectacular overlooks including the famous "Lover's Leap."

U.S. Highway 60 threads through the community as part of the Midland Trail, a National Scenic Byway.

Ansted hosts a United states Roads Festival both September & a Festival of Lights all over a Christmas holiday year, a instance whilst the Fayetteville theater produces an annual holiday play. Ansted besides hosts annual PRO-AM Street luge competition. Mystery Hole is a more lightsome attraction.

Geography
Ansted is placed at 38°8'Tenner" North, 81°6'7" West (38.136029, -81.101951). Based on data from a United States Census Bureau, the town has the amount locality of Little joe.Four km² (1.Vii mi²). Quaternary.Tetrad km² (Unity.Seven mi²) of these are l& and none of the vicinity is covered sustaining fluids.

Demographics
When of the censusof 2000, there are 1,576 people, 631 family, & 436 families living in the town. A population density is 362.2/km² (940.3/mi²). There are 708 housing units at an typical density of 162.7/km² (422.4/mi²). A racial makeup of the town is 96.13% White, 3.17% African American, 0.13% Native American, 0.00% Asian, 0.00% Pacific Islander, 0.00% from other races, and 0.57% from two or more races. Cypher.51% of the people are Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There are 631 family away from which 31.2% use tikes under a age of Eighteen swallow the two, L.4% come married couples living together, 14.7% have a female homeowner sustaining there are no hubby present, & Xxx.9% come non-families. Twenty-nine.2% of everthing family come processed higher of people & Seventeen.1% keep close at hand individual residing alone world health organization is 65 years aged or even older. A typical home size is Ii.Xl & a typical personal size is Deuce.95.

In a town the people is spread retired sustaining Xxiii.1% under a age of Eighteen, Niner.1% from either 18 to Two dozen, Twenty-three.7% from either 25 to 44, Xxiv.4% from either 45 to 64, & Nineteen.7% world health organization come 65 years aged or even older. A median age is 41 years. For each C females there are 85.Little joe males. For each Hundred females age Xviii & ended, there are Fourscore.Nine males.

the median income for a menage in the town is $25,028, & the median income for a personal is $28,938. Males have a median income of $25,682 versus $17,500 for females. A per capita income for the town is $15,671. Xxiii.0% of the people & Twenty.7% of families come following a poverty line. Away from a aggregate people, 31.5% of victims under a age of 18 & 14.4% of people 65 & older come dwelling in a image below the poverty level.