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    Giles County
    Giles County
    Giles County
    Ebook120 pages25 minutes

    Giles County

    By Terri L. Fisher

    ()

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    About this ebook

    The New River, creeks, limestone, timber, mineral springs, mountains, and railroads have shaped the small communities, industries, and tourism of Giles County, Virginia.


    Many once-bustling places in the county are quieter today, but buildings and landscapes of earlier times are still present and interesting to compare to photographs of the past. Terri L. Fisher, executive director of the Giles County Historical Society and author of Images of America: Pearisburg and Giles County and Lost Communities of Virginia, is a resident of Narrows.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateMar 14, 2011
    ISBN9781439626702
    Giles County
    Author

    Terri L. Fisher

    Terri L. Fisher, executive director of the Giles County Historical Society and author of Images of America: Pearisburg and Giles County and Lost Communities of Virginia, is a resident of Narrows.

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      Book preview

      Giles County - Terri L. Fisher

      collections.

      INTRODUCTION

      Giles County’s communities are as unique and varied as its landscape. Pearisburg, incorporated in 1808, is the county seat and focused on the services of government. Newport was a crossroads town for stagecoaches. Eggleston was a springs resort and later an important railroad town. Kimballton developed around the lime deposits and their potential for agriculture. Interior became a train stop for hauling timber out of the mountains. Narrows’ location where Wolf Creek empties into the New River provided many opportunities for water-powered mills. Agriculture has flourished in many communities where the rich silt from the New River aids crops.

      Transportation has been a challenge in Giles County due to the rivers, creeks, and mountains. Fords, ferries, and bridges crossed the waterways. Stagecoaches braved the mountain roads with passengers moving west or tourists visiting places such as Eggleston Springs Resort and Mountain Lake Hotel. At least four different railroads, their owners seeking the money in coal, timber, and other natural resources, followed the relatively level rivers and creeks of the county.

      Natural resources attracted industry as well, providing an important economic driver for the development of Giles County. Glen Lyn grew around the Appalachian Power plant situated on the New River. Narrows and Pearisburg expanded exponentially when Celanese Corporation built a factory between the two towns. Bluff City developed around the New River Tannery. Populations in Ripplemead, Kimballton, and Pembroke all increased as a result of limestone quarries.

      The reasons for growth in the communities of Giles County have contributed to changes in these places over the years. As transportation improved, people could drive themselves to larger commercial centers to shop. U.S. 460, which used to bisect the county, passing through the center of towns like Newport, Pembroke, Ripplemead, and Pearisburg, now bypasses them entirely. Trains no longer stop at depots and small communities along the New River. Most of the limestone quarrying operations are gone now, as are the tanneries. Celanese Corporation, while still the largest employer in the county, now has about one-quarter the number of workers it once did. The result of these industrial changes is that many of the commercial centers are quiet or struggling. Many homes are not as grand as they once were or were lost with the widening of U.S.

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