Posted in West Virginia February 05, 2021 by

This Abandoned West Virginia Ghost Town Was Once The Highest, Coldest Town In The East

Ghost towns are fascinating places. Once teeming with life, they now lie abandoned and forgotten by a world that has moved callously on without them. Such is the story of many an overgrown West Virginia settlement, including the long-abandoned town of Spruce, West Virginia, whose ruins are perched high in a mountain meadow in Pocahontas County.

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The remote high mountains of Pocahontas County, West Virginia hide a long-forgotten secret.
Cody Carr/Youtube
Just under ten miles southwest of Durbin, on the Shavers Fork of Cheat River and along the route of the Cheat Mountain Salamander train tour, lie the ruins of an old mining town: Spruce, West Virginia.
Cody Carr/Youtube
In 1902, when Spruce was founded, it was said to be the highest, coldest town east of the Mississippi. It's elevation? A chilly 3,853 feet. (Rumor has it that, at this height, residents of Spruce reported frosts even in the warmest months of the year.)
Cody Carr/Youtube
Spruce was so remote that no roads ever led to or even through this mountain community - only train tracks.
Cody Carr/Youtube
Spruce was developed primarily as a logging community with a side of coal mining thrown in. The West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company built a pulp mill adjacent to the settlement (just across the river) that operated until 1925.
Cody Carr/Youtube
The town also boasted a hotel (an astounding wonder for its time with 30 rooms, hot running water, and above all, electric lighting!), a locomotive shop, a school house, a company store, and company row houses.
Cody Carr/Youtube
After the mill relocated to Maryland in the mid-1920s, however, the town was slowly abandoned.
Cody Carr/Youtube
Now, only a few ruins, a handful of picnic tables, and a network of old train tracks adorn the beautiful mountain valley.
Cody Carr/Youtube
To see some recent footage of Spruce, West Virginia's ruins for yourself, check out this video taken by Youtuber Cody Carr:

Have you ever visited Spruce, West Virginia? Did you hike in from the Snowshoe Resort area or ride through on the train?

If you are as fascinated by West Virginia’s abandoned ghost towns as we are, here’s the long-forgotten story of another, this one on the steep slopes of the New River Gorge: Royal, West Virginia.

Address: Spruce, WV 26264, USA