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This rural community of Freeman, West
Virginia is located along the banks of the Bluestone
River and is approximately two miles from the Town
Bramwell, WV. Freeman has a heritage that was dominated
by "coal" mining operations in the late 1800s.
The Buckeye Coal and Coke Company opened operations in
1886 in the small building beside the railway tracks as
shown in the picture as taken approximately 1915. Buckeye
Coal and Coke operated two tipples at the turn of the
century. This company produced over 100,000 tons of coal
and 20,000 tons of coke each year from the Buckeye mine;
located in Buckeye Hollow just north of Freeman on Route
52. John
Davis Hewittwas Vice President and
General Manager of the Buckeye Coal and Coke and was one
of the Bramwell's true Coal Barons. He was interred in
the Freeman Cemetery on October 11, 1903.
Many
of the buildings in this picture still remain standing.
The "Simmons" Depot and Freight Station , shown
in the picture foreground, were heavily used with
numerous coal trains traveling this line as late as 1955.
The very small building visible just to the left of the
Simmons Depot and next to the telephone pole was the
"Coal House' for the depot. Daily mail was taken
across the railroad bridge in a wheel barrow to the town
Post Office that was located in the left end of the large
building; shown in the center of the picture. Dr. Homer
Luttrell's office was located brhind the Caswell Creek
Coal Company store that is shown on the Bramwell side of
Simmons Creek. In fact, there are three company stores
visible in this picture. They are Caswell Creek, Booth
Bowen and Buckeye Coal and Coke Company; along with a
meat market, post office and "Crows Roost" (the
hand rail along the sidewalk from the post office to the
meat market; so named because the local men sat on the
hand rail and loafed ). While the the Simmons Depot and
Freight Station are shown at the near side of the
railroad bridge in the picture, Oscar "Beef"
Bennett, chief of police, had his office in the west end
of the "Coon" Freight Station on the Freeman
side, (north) of the Bluestone River. However, the Coon
Freight Station building is not visible in the picture.
Visible on the Simmons (south) side of the Bluestone
River in the picture is the Lyman Tibb's home and the
railroad section crew's tool shed.
The Buckeye Company houses on the right side of the Buckeye Coal & Coke Company Store were known as Buckeye Row.
Notice
that in the picture Route 52 had not been built at the
turn of the century. The road that is visible to the left
of the picture center continued a short distance and than
forked, with the right fork leading to Sinai Mountain,
while the left fork went north up Simmons Creek to the
Buckeye Coal Mines and then on into McDowell County.
Few
people know that Simmons is on the south side of
Bluestone River while Freeman is on the north side of
this river. Another Fact: The historic Freeman "Oak Hill Cemetery"
is located on the east end of the hill in the picture
background. John Davis Hewitt and John Freeman along with
their wives are buried in this cemetary. ( Our sincere thanks to
Bill Myers for his memories, his help in identifying
buildings in this picture and furnishing additional
historic facts on Freeman and Simmons. ) |
The above enhanced photograph was taken in 1918 along Bluestone Avenue in front of the Methodist Church. The large house in the foreground is the Sexton home. The photograph was featured on a 1918 post card. This photograph featured the village of Freeman, WV that is now a part of the town of Bramwell . Bob Gallagher, who furnished this card said, "the November 18, 1918 postcard is from cousin Rowland Toy who was in Bramwell area at the time. The postcard photograph is clearly of Freeman, WV in 1918 as you can see the Elizabeth Bowen Methodist Church as well as the large historic Sexton home in the foreground that still stands today. " The Baptist Church can be seen in the far center background of this photograph. It was formally the Methodist Church and was sold to the Baptist Church congration around 1906.
This rural community of Freeman, West Virginia is located along the banks of the Bluestone River and is approximately two miles from the town Bramwell, WV. Freeman has a heritage that was dominated by "coal" mining operations in the late 1800s. The Buckeye Coal and Coke Company opened operations in 1886 in the small building beside the railway tracks as shown in the picture as taken approximately 1901. Buckeye Coal and Coke operated two tipples at the turn of the century. This company produced over 100,000 tons of coal and 20,000 tons of coke each year from the Buckeye mine; located in Buckeye Hollow just north of Freeman on Route 52. John Davis Hewitt was Vice President and General Manager of the Buckeye Coal and Coke and was one of the Bramwell's true Coal Barons. He was interred in the Freeman Cemetery on October 11, 1903.
( Enhanced Photograph Provided By: Buddy French)
This is an enlargement of the Simmons
Depot that is shown in the foreground of the top picture.
Note that the HISTORIC
BOOTH-BOWEN COAL COMPANY STORE can also be seen in the
right of this picture.
Above is a view of Freeman is from a 1916 post card. It gives views of all three coal company stores in Freeman in 1916. They included the Buckeye Coal & Coke Company Store (Right), Booth Bowen Coal & Coke Company Store (Center) and the Caswell Creek Coak & Coke Compny Store (Left). The one room popular butcher shop is in the midddle of the picture; on the left of the Buckey Coal & Coke Company Stor.. Jones' Hill housing community is in the photogtraph background. Oscar "Beef" Bennett, chief of police, had his office in the west end of the "Coon" Freight Station that visible on the Simmons, WV side, (north) of the Bluestone River. Simmons Creek runs from the North along the right side of the butche(left of Buckeye Coal & Coke Company Store .r shop building. This creek empties into the Bluestone River at the railroad tressel
( Enhanced Photographs on this page were provided By: Buddy French )
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