Logan County
West Virginia
Nostalgia
Mountaineers Are Always Free
(State Motto)
This web site is maintained by Dodie E. (Smith) Browning
Peach Creek WV-A Doorway to America
Don wrote:
"My grandfather, Lonnie Penn Kendall, is the third from the left. The photo was taken before 1929 because that is when he died.
The others in the picture are unknown to me".
Nancy Chafin Nieves writes:
I found a picture of my Uncle Tom Chafin. My Uncle Tom was railroader wirh C&O He is 4th from the right."
If anyone has information to share about the photo above, or any of
the pictures here, e-mail Don Kendall.
Don has many more pictures on his website and he would be happy to hear from everyone.
You may also leave messages for him in my guestbook (see bottom of page.)
This picture was the most special one in the collection for me (Dodie).
This is how Peach Creek looked when I lived there. There is even a
visble picture of our house. My house is right in back of the two large
buildings with balconies, the house with the dormer. It was seven rooms with beautiful
hardwood floors and an open staircase. It had a garage underneath the house. The two buildings with
balconies are the old Peach Creek Theatre(on left)and the Peach Creek
Company Store on the right. There were apartments upstairs in each of these buildings (the reason for the balconies).
To the left: the tracks, the roundhouse and the "turn table" where all of the switching of coal cars
and engines took place. This was where the trains left the area, to haul coal to the rest of the country.
The underpass (overpass for trains), as you enter Peach Creek. You need to sound your horn entering, because there is a blind curve on the other side!
This picture was taken by Dodie E. (Smith) Browning in 1955. I was standing on the top of the underpass (same one in picture above)
and facing towards West Logan. The entire road was was under water and the only way we could get
in and out was to walk the railroad tracks. The large building to the left was the old YMCA, which was where most raildroadmen from
out of town stayed. The "Y" was always known for serving some of the best food in the county. Two of the cooks were
Gertrude (Nethercutt) Pierce (Mother of Frances Pierce) Hampson and Mrs. Hampson, the mother of John Hampson.
This was the old Peach Creek Post Office.
It is where we congregated to wait for the school bus.
The fronts of the old businesses were built right at the edge of the tracks,
for easy access to merchadise that came in by train.
The new Peach Creek Bridge
(The old bridge was so much prettier.)
The following pictures were contributed by my very best friend since Jr. High School, Frances (Pierce) Hampson
The Peach Creek Train Yard
The Road from Peach Creek to Crooked Creek.
The Guyandotte (also known as Guyan) River
runs along the road, on the left hand side.
This is the road where I had my first driving
lesson and while waving to some friends,
almost ran the car into the river!
PEACH CREEK GRADE SCHOOL TOY BAND
Front Row-L to R: Loretta Ferrell, Barbara Kay McGinnis, Johnny Bradford, Lucy Stevens, JoAnn Carey
2nd Row- L to R: Melba Hobbes, Betty Adkins, Mary Ann Stevens, Nora Husband, Terry Chafin, Jerry Bias
3rd Row- L to R: Linda Royer, Donald Moreland, Gordon Peck, Gordon Hall, Frances Pierce, David Walker
The group above, along with anyone who ever lived at Peach Creek, has become known as "The Peach Creek Brats." Barbara Kay Mc Ginnis organized the "Brats" group and there is a reunion every year at Chief Logan State Park. I will publish recent pictures in the future of some of this group.
Photo by Dodie (Smith) Browning
Lois Freeman (now Cooper)- one of my best friends in the 1950s. This picture was taken in June, 1955 beside the old abandoned Peach Creek Theater.
Peach Creek Methodist Church
Most of the Peach Creek "Brats"
went to chuch here and several were
married here. Pastors would come and go
over the years, but one person was always there;
Harry Baker, the choir director, who was loved by all.
He directed regular choir as well as the Jr. Choir.
Mary Elizabeth Davis also played a very important role
in the choir when we lived there. Under their direction,
even the dullest songs were interesting. Sometimes
in that little church, we made the "rafters ring."
Next-Lets ride the rails to Holden!
Our guest book crashed and I have not been able to contact the server.
Hopefully it will be back up and running soon. In the meantime, please
use my Class of 1955 Memories Guest book.
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