BEURY, WV (LOOTPRESS) – The history of Beury is tied to the coal boom in New River Gorge and the legacy of coal entrepreneur Joseph L. Beury.
Beury’s investments in the area’s burgeoning coal industry in the early 1870s, beginning with the settlement of Quinnimont, coincided with the first shipment of coal out of the gorge in 1873.
Shortly after, Beury established the Echo Mining Camp, which served miners working in his Echo Mine along the New River.
By 1881, the Echo Mine was fully operational, shipping coal under the management of Cooper & Company, later transitioning ownership to the Echo Coal and Coke Company in 1898, and ultimately to the Beury Brothers Coal and Coke Company.
As the coal industry thrived, Beury experienced rapid growth, drawing workers for the mine and other ventures, including an inclined railway to the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) mainline, timber harvesting, and staffing for fifty coke ovens and local businesses.
Unique for the region, Beury also hosted industries beyond natural resources.
The Fayette Liquor Company operated from Beury, bottling beer for local and national markets. By 1895, the town had a post office and a population of over five hundred by 1900.
The town’s labor movement was also notable, with the 1890 founding of the Knights of Labor National Trade Assembly, later reorganized into the United Mine Workers of America Local No. 988.
Labor struggles intensified following a 1909 explosion in the Echo Mine, which killed six miners and fueled union activism.
Joseph Beury’s influence on the town extended beyond the mine. His decision to build a mansion in Beury solidified the community’s name.
Constructed at an impressive cost of $100,000, the 23-room mansion featured stone gardens, a swimming pool, greenhouses, and a stable.
Ingeniously designed, the house could redirect a nearby creek beneath it in summer for cooling and return the water to its original path in winter.
A man of extravagance, Beury hired orchestras to play on the lawn on Sundays and summer evenings. His legacy lived on in the town until his death in 1903.
However, Beury’s boom was short-lived. By 1919, the population had slightly declined to 495, and by the mid-1920s, most residents had abandoned the town.
The post office closed in 1925, and the Masonic Lodge was rebuilt in the more active town of Thurmond. Joseph Beury’s family remained in the mansion until 1936, one of the last to leave.
Beury remained empty for decades until 1960, when Melcenia Fields, a reclusive figure, moved in.
Despite her solitude, Fields became a local icon, with railroad operators discreetly leaving her supplies.
Following her death in 1982, no one has resided in Beury. The abandoned buildings slowly deteriorated, and a flood in 2001 buried the remnants of the Beury mansion.
Today, the once-thriving town of Beury is a relic of the coal boom in the New River Gorge and not much remains.
Lootpress recently made the trek to the old town to see what exactly was left.
Part of the old Beury Company Store along with pieces of the former Beury Mansion remain but Mother Nature is slowly reclaiming what is left.
