I'm looking for photos and stories/memories of the Crumpler or surrounding areas to add to this website
please email Patricia Smith if you can help

Crumpler, Indian Ridge and the Zenith Coal Camp connection to
Beartown and the Beartown Creek area of Wyoming County, WV.
Many of Jim's older relatives talk of walking from Beartown to Crumpler to go to town or to the movies.  They walked through a tunnel in the mountain to get there.  They went in groups and probably enjoyed the time involved socializing and just being "young".  People walked everywhere back then.

Crumpler Tipple, Crumpler, WV

Lower Community Scene, Crumpler WV photo supplied by Tina Mitchem Nov 2007

The site of the Zenith Coal Camp, Crumpler, WV sat in the valley below in the photos of the Slate Dump below. 
Many houses existed in this coal camp.  Their all gone today.  The Pinnacle Creek ATV Campground now sits where this Coal Camp once resided.  Beartown Creek also flows down through this same valley.

Site of the Crumpler Slate Dump or slag heap - the waste product from the tipple was dumped here.  Today its the site of ATV trails.   A very dangerous ride indeed.  Many injuries and deaths have been recorded at this site. 

September 2007 my daughter captured this picture of a dirt bike rider coming up this mountainside and then he raised his handlebars and jumped the guard rail at the top. 
There were many spectators standing around watching - including 4 of my grandchildren and their parents who began oohing and awing at final results of this riders ascent up the mountain.

The Wagon Wheel sits within a mile of the Smith House at Beartown - its a popular site of the ATV/Hatfield McCoy Crowd.  The Hatfield McCoy Trail has brought many ATV riders to the area and many of the local residents are not happy with the changes that have occurred to their living environment.  ATV traffic is prevalent on roads other than the trails - one always has to be on the lookout for a caravan of ATV riders going around turns or anyplace at Beartown these days when your driving on the main roadways..  Most times you will meet them in the middle of the rode riding in a cloud of dust.  You can hear the roar of their engines late into the night - also the sound of ambulances or many times a Medivac helicopter coming to pick up injured riders.  This happens every weekend like clockwork when the riders come to the mountains by the hundreds to ride.  

YouTube.com - Wagon Wheel, WV