6. Thurmond, West Virginia
Thurmond was once a thriving railway town with huge amounts of coal brought in from the mines in the area, it had the largest revenue on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway, which is now a museum. However, it went from a prosperous small town to a near-ghost town with just five residents at the 2010 Census.
So Thurmond isn’t technically a ghost town yet, as there are still 5 inhabitants left in the town, according to the National Register of Historic Places, but there’s definitely nothing to do, see or hear.
But it wasn’t always like that. At its peak, at the beginning of the 20th century, Thurmond was a prosperous town. There were two hotels, two banks, restaurants, clothing stores, a jewelry store, a movie theater, many business offices. The Great Depression caused several businesses to close, including Thurmond’s National Bank of Thurmond, leaving the town in a bad economic situation.
The town remained untouched by modern development, but it is, and it will always be a town with history and many stories to tell.
