Abandoned Towns
Aerial view of the New River Gorge at Sewell: the river between forested slopes, with the railroad along the east bank

Coal mining town

Sewell

A coal and coke town on the New River, where nearly 200 beehive ovens burned until 1956 and the last resident left in 1973. The ovens, an office vault and a springhouse are still there, on National Park Service land at the end of a long walk down an old railroad grade.

37°59′50″N 81°01′15″W · ≈1,030 ft

Aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).

Hike in

There is no road to Sewell. The Old Sewell Road trail leaves the Glade Creek Grist Mill in Babcock State Park and follows the old Mann's Creek railroad grade down toward the river; by an Associated Press report of May 15, 2023 it is about 12 miles round trip and ends just short of a National Park Service boundary marker. The last half mile into Sewell, on park land, is overgrown and hard to follow. Stay off the active CSX railroad between the townsite and the river.

Overview

Coke ovens at the mouth of Mann's Creek

Sewell sits on the east bank of the New River where Mann's Creek comes in, about six miles southeast of Fayetteville as the crow flies. It took its name from Stephen Sewell, a pioneer settler. The Longdale Iron Company opened a mine here in 1873, months after the Chesapeake and Ohio line through the gorge opened, and fired its first beehive coke ovens the next year. Within ten years Sewell had 196 ovens, the biggest coke works in the gorge.

The local coal ran short by the mid-1880s, and in 1886 the Mann's Creek Railroad was finished, a three-foot narrow gauge that climbed the creek to mines around Clifftop and brought their coal down to the ovens. The town grew to more than 300 people in the early 1900s, with a company store, an office with a vault and a stone machine shop. Its ovens were the last to burn in southern West Virginia, until 1956, a year after the railroad closed. The town emptied after that, and its last resident moved out in 1973.

The townsite is now inside New River Gorge National Park and Preserve. No road reaches it. The way in is the old railroad grade, rebuilt by the state in 2022 and 2023 as a trail from Babcock State Park.

Video

Down the Old Sewell Road Trail

Two hikers set out from the Glade Creek Grist Mill in Babcock State Park on a summer morning and walk the Old Sewell Road Trail: past the gate and the sign calling it a former narrow-gauge railroad and the access to the town of Sewell, waterfalls on the West Virginia Waterfall Trail, and a coal-fired boiler from a narrow-gauge train beside the grade. Near the end the trail turns to thick brush; following a phone map, they reach the townsite but find only a post topped with a piece of rail before turning back. The hikers call the land at the end a national forest; it is New River Gorge National Park and Preserve. They give the walk as about 4.5 miles each way and 11 miles in all; the Associated Press report we follow gives about 12 miles round trip. They did not reach the ovens or the office ruins.

Play “Hiking the Sewell trail Babcock state park WV” from YouTube
“Hiking the Sewell trail Babcock state park WV”, by APPALACHIAN PARLEY on YouTube. The player loads from YouTube when you press play.

Timeline

From Longdale's mine to the last oven

  1. Peter Bowyer builds a cabin at the site and starts a farm and a ferry across the New River.
  2. Months after the C&O line through the gorge opens, the Longdale Iron Company opens its first mine at Sewell.
  3. The coke works are built, the year Coal Camp USA gives for the start of Sewell's mines and ovens.
  4. Within ten years there are 196 ovens, the most of any coke works in the gorge. By the mid-1880s the local coal is running out.
  5. The Mann's Creek Railroad, a three-foot narrow gauge, is finished. It brings coal down from mines around Clifftop to Sewell's ovens.
  6. Babcock Coal & Coke owns the Clifftop mines that feed the ovens; Royalty Smokeless Coal follows.
  7. Sewell's population peaks at more than 300.
  8. The railroad closes in 1955. Coke-making at Sewell ends in 1956, the last beehive ovens burning in southern West Virginia.
  9. The last resident, a railroad employee, moves out.
  10. The state rebuilds the old railroad grade in Babcock State Park as the Old Sewell Road trail, ending near the National Park Service boundary short of the town.

What's left

Ovens, a vault and a spring

The coke ovens are the main sight: a long row of stone beehives built into the slope, with the supports of the old larry car track behind them, photographed by a visitor in March 2002 along with a rusting larry car, a chain conveyor and other machinery. An undated visitor note counts about 70 ovens still in line, of the 196 at the peak. The office stands as walls and a chimney around its vault, and a large foundation marks a building that was taken away. A springhouse that served as the town's water supply still flows, by the 2023 report.

Rails of more than one gauge ran through the village, and the main line still runs between the townsite and the river. That is the CSX railroad, active today: keep off it.

The historic maps show Sewell squeezed between the river and the hill. The 1911 Beckley sheet marks Sewell on the railroad along the east bank, with a road climbing away up the slope. The 1929 sheet adds East Sewell just upstream to the south, with Cunard across the river and the Brooklyn and Finlow post office on the west side. By 1969 the Thurmond sheet labels only Sewell, with a strip mine on the opposite slope.

  • Beehive coke ovens
  • Office walls, chimney and vault
  • Springhouse (still flowing)
  • Larry car and conveyor
  • Foundations
  • Old Mann's Creek Railroad grade (now the trail)
USGS topographic map of Sewell on the east bank of the New River, with Manns Creek and Sewell Road to the north
USGS The National Map, topo. Sewell sits on the east bank of the New River, below the mouth of Manns Creek. The old grade, marked Sewell Rd, climbs east along the creek.
Aerial view of the New River at Sewell: green water between forested banks, with the railroad on the east side
Aerial imagery, same area. Forest has closed over the townsite on the east bank, to the right of the river.

Historic maps

Sewell on USGS maps, 1911–1969

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

USGS topographic map around Sewell, 1911
Beckley sheet, 1911, 1:48,000 · U.S. Geological Survey, public domain · catalog record

Map & directions

Getting there

The drive ends at the Glade Creek Grist Mill in Babcock State Park; Sewell is a walk from there. From Fayetteville the route takes US 19 and US 60 to Stanaford Road (WV 41) and the park road. From Charleston it follows I-64/I-77 and US 60 up the Kanawha valley. On foot, the Old Sewell Road trail follows the old Mann's Creek railroad grade from the gate near Cabin 13, past the end of the pavement.

USGS topographic map of the New River Gorge from Fayetteville to Sewell and Babcock State Park, with the route to the grist mill drawn on it

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

From downtown Fayetteville21.4 miabout 33 min
  1. Leave on North Court Street (WV 16).0.3 mi
  2. Turn right onto US 19.6.8 mi
  3. Take the off-ramp and turn left on the Midland Trail (US 60).9.9 mi
  4. Bear right on Stanaford Road (WV 41).3.7 mi
  5. Turn sharp right on the park road to the Glade Creek Grist Mill. Walk on from here.0.6 mi
Google Maps directionsApple MapsOpenStreetMap

Directions go to the Glade Creek Grist Mill in Babcock State Park, where the Old Sewell Road trail starts; Sewell is a hike of about 6 miles, where the drive ends, not to the townsite.

Road and safety notes

  • The routes are computed from OpenStreetMap and haven't been driven by us. They end at the grist mill, not at Sewell.
  • The Old Sewell Road trail starts past the end of the pavement at a gate near Cabin 13. It is about 12 miles round trip with a dozen benches, by the 2023 AP report. Beyond the state park boundary the grade is overgrown.
  • Older visitor notes say park rangers at Babcock can give directions, and that the way is isolated. Carry water and a map.
  • The CSX main line between Sewell and the river is active. Do not walk on it.

Photos

Have photos of Sewell?

We haven’t added photographs of Sewell yet. If you’ve visited, share your photos and a field report below.

A visitor's photographs of March 2002, showing the ovens, the vault and the machinery, are on Coal Camp USA.

Visitor reports

Been to Sewell?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

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Nearby

Other sites near Sewell

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our West Virginia index.

Sources

Sources and credits

  1. Wikipedia, "Sewell, West Virginia", retrieved October 2026: coordinates and elevation, Stephen Sewell, 193 ovens, the Mann's Creek Railroad of 1886 to 1955, six miles southeast of Fayetteville.
  2. Associated Press, "West Virginia park system adds hiking, biking trail in New River Gorge", May 15, 2023: the Old Sewell Road trail, its length, trailhead, benches and end at the NPS boundary, the overgrown last half mile, the springhouse, office and vault, CSX warning, Bowyer in 1798, Longdale in 1873 and 1874, 196 ovens, the mid-1880s, the 1886 railroad, more than 300 people, the 1956 end.
  3. Coal Camp USA, "Sewell", photos taken March 2002: the Longdale Coal Company in 1874, almost 200 ovens, the last to burn in southern West Virginia until 1956, the Clifftop mines and their owners, the last resident in 1973, the vault, conveyor, larry car and foundations.
  4. ghosttowns.com, "Sewell": roads, climate, best time, remains; visitor notes on about 70 ovens, the stone machine shop, rails of different gauges, the spring, ranger directions and isolation.
  5. West Virginia Explorer, "Ghost towns in southern West Virginia", October 20, 2025: the ovens burning until 1956, access through Babcock State Park.
  6. West Virginia Tourism, "5 near-forgotten ghost towns to explore in WV", updated March 15, 2022: coke oven remains, the spring, directions from Babcock rangers.
  7. Trailhead point: OpenStreetMap (Glade Creek Grist Mill). Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Not field-checked.
  8. APPALACHIAN PARLEY, "Hiking the Sewell trail Babcock state park WV", YouTube, posted August 27, 2023: the trail from the grist mill, the boiler beside the grade and the overgrown end of the walk (the video on this page); checked against its captions and storyboard frames.

Photo and map credits