We hiked to the ruins of Beury, an apt name for such an old, dead town. The town was established in the 1870s as a mining camp for the nearby Echo Mine, but it was abandoned by 1925. We could’ve hiked along the railroad tracks from Thurmond to get there but decided to take a “shortcut” instead. Our original idea was to drive up a rutted gravel road then hike down to Beury along the power lines. Nature had other plans. She had reclaimed the clearing of the power lines with brambles and nettle. Instead, we found a loose semblance of a trail and bushwhacked our way down the mountain.
The trees revealed the season, their green leaves faded with the summer that has meandered through the mountains. Morning rain turned the West Virginia woods into a jungle of bugs and humidity. We scrambled along deer trails and weaving roads long reclaimed by nature. Had it not been for the flatness of the abandoned road or railway, we never would have seen it in the otherwise steep hillside.
Finally, after 2 miles and 900 feet of elevation loss, we slid our way down shale and rocks to the ruins of Buery. The roofless company store rose amid the ivy to be the most noticeable structure. An old double fireplace and stone archway were hidden next to a long, moss-covered retaining wall.
“We’re standing in somebody’s living room,” whispered Daniel as we investigated the ruins. This place was a home, a town. People inhabited these structures, now only haunted by ghosts and ivy.
Further buried in the hills were two chimneys and a cracked stone floor. At least 100 years old, I thought, now strewn among the creek bed. The fireplace openings were raised at least 8 feet above the creek, indicating the building actually sat above the water. I've now learned this was the remainder of a 23 room mansion, a luxury in this old coal town.
We sat at the fireplace, eating our snacks where a family could have broken bread a century ago. A train grinded past on the rails below us, its low rumble sounding like it had broken free of the mountain itself, a sound that would have been a familiar fixture to life in the West Virginia hills as trains transported tons of coal along the River to bigger cities.
As the sun started to cast long shadows through the leaves of the thick canopy, we decided to begin the journey to our car. Before we left, an unstable rock fell from the crumbling chimneys and hit me. With a hurt wrist and ankle, the flat journey along the railroad tracks back to Thurmond was much less daunting than climbing straight uphill over moss covered rocks.
Two and a half miles along the tracks we walked, looking like everything a scene from Stand By Me. Another train rolled by, this time full of oil instead of coal. Its whistle echoed through the valley long after the engine was gone. Finally we found ourselves back in Thurmond, another abandoned coal town but in much better shape than the ruins of Buery.
Trip Summary
A trip to Buery is worth the 2.5 mile trek along the tracks, especially if you can make it on a bicycle. There is room to ride or walk beside the tracks rather than on them. After our long, difficult slide down the mountain, I would not recommend our shortcut.
Park in Thurmond (Google maps should get you there safely, but cell service is limited). Walk along the tracks toward the northwest side of town. After about 2.5 miles, there will be a small opening in the brambles. You should be able to see the stone ruins of the company store from the tracks. The house with the double fireplace will sit behind the company store, up and to the left. From the stone archway, walk toward the creek (directly to the left if you’re looking at the fireplace with your back to the tracks) to find the remains of the mansion that sits above the creek. Metal pales and other small treasures lie scattered about if you look for them. There is a sign that says no artifact hunting, so please be respectful of the area’s heritage.
