Freeman,

The above viewof colonial Freeman is from around 1890. The railroad bridge is a good reference point when comparing the picture with the 1901 picture of Freeman. Notice how much more visible the houses are on the Freeman side of the Bluestone River than they are in the 1915 Freeman picture. In the photograph background one can see the Jenkin & Martha Elwood Jones house on the upper left, the Wm. Henry and Harriett Hopkinson Bowen house in the center and the James Elwood house on the right. James Elwood was the brother of Martha Elwood Jones. The Simmons Freight Station is partially visible in the right of this photograph and is on the South side of the railroad tressel.

The below view of Freeman is from a 1916 post card. It gieves 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 butcher shop is in the midddle of the picture. Jones' Hill 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 Freeman side, (north) of the Bluestone River. Simmons Creek runs from the North along the right side of the butcher shop building. It empties into the Bluestone River at the railroad tressel.

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)