Red Ribble 
NPS In 1870, in the heart of the New River Gorge, two brothers, William and James Prince, purchased 300 acres of land. This land bought from General Alfred Beckley would become the town of Prince. The Prince brothers arrived in the gorge before the building of the railroad in 1873. They earliest business were the Prince Bothers General Store and a ferry crossing. As the construction of the railroad began, their businesses flourished. The Stretcher's Neck tunnel construction and nearby bridge construction especially provided good business. An Independent TownThe Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad passed through the Prince brothers' land. During its construction, the brothers sold the C&O a right-of-way agreement. This agreement allowed the C&O to pass through their land so long as every train stopped in Prince. The number of trains stopping in Prince brought a wide variety of goods and passengers to the town. Prince was never a mining town, one of only a few in New River Gorge. No coal company ever owned the town. The Prince family owned all the buildings in town and rented them out to businesses. Prince prospered from its ideal location near the center of the gorge. This made it a prime supplier to mining towns for both people and goods. The Prince Store offered a wide variety of goods to both local residents and mining town stores. People from Fayette and Raleigh counties, including Beckley and Layland, shopped in Prince. 
NPS The Prince DepotIn 1880, the first passenger train depot in New River Gorge opened in Prince. Thousands of passengers used the depot, so many that it required an enlargement in 1891. Whether for business or mining, people were pouring into Prince. The first depot burned down in 1917 but was rebuilt the very same year. A new depot replaced the old one in 1946. At its height, Prince had a population of 250 residents. It had both an elementary and high school along with a post office, train depot, hotel, and tavern. The town also had two churches. The Prince brothers built their home at the junction of the Piney Creek line and the main line. Prince TodayLike many towns in New River Gorge, Prince began to decline with the loss of the coal industry. The town is not gone like many mining towns. Today, about 17 people still call Prince home. Amtrak uses the Prince depot as a stop three days a week with over 1,000 passengers a year. Although the Prince Store closed its doors in 1984, visitors can still see the store building along WV-41. Both the railroad bridge and Stretcher's Neck tunnel are still in use by freight and passenger trains every week. More Places in New River Gorge
|
Last updated: August 24, 2023