ALPOCA - BUD WV
Alpoca, W.Va. and Bud, W.Va. kind of run together. They are on Barkers Creek in Wyoming County.
The name Alpoca was derived from Alpha Pocahontas Coal Co. Alpha Pocahontas was history prior to World War II. Later Gaston Coal Company operated mines at Alpoca. This may have been a subsidiary of
Slab Fork Coal Co. Later the Gaston No. 2 Mine in the Pocahontas No. 3 seam was an operation of the Slab Fork Coal Co. All of this was named after Gaston Caperton. The Caperton family owned Slab Fork Coal.
Thermo Pocahontas Coal Co. mined coal at nearby Bud. Today people still live at Bud, but nearly all of the Alpoca community has disappeared.
Sources:
Legg, Mary E. From Affinity to Winding Gulf. 1989.
Stevenson, Mary Legg. Coal Towns of West Virginia. Quarrier Press, 1998.
March 2020 image by author
Former mainline of the Virginian Railway in Alpoca, W.Va.
March 2020 image by author
The house on the right is the last remaining building from the Alpoca coal camp.
March 2020 image by author
Another view of 21st Century Alpoca.
March 2020 image by author
This structure was the escape hoist for the Gaston No. 2 Mine.
March 2020 image by author
At first I thought this was Alpoca but I now think
it is part of Bud.
March 2020 image by author
There are still some interesting buildings in Bud.
March 2020 image by author
I wouldn't mind living in a cut stone home like this myself.
March 2020 image by author
Remaining foundations from the Thermo Pocahontas Coal. Co.
March 2020 image by author
The rubble stone foundations of the buildings indicate their historic nature.
March 2020 image by author
A windowless church in Bud.