Ghost towns are fascinating places. Once teeming with life, they now lie abandoned and forgotten by a world that has moved callously on without them. Such is the story of many an overgrown West Virginia settlement, including the long-abandoned town of Spruce, West Virginia, whose ruins are perched high in a mountain meadow in Pocahontas County. Spruce is a particularly fascinating story with a hidden past. When it comes to ghost towns in WV, this is one you have to know about.
The remote high mountains of Pocahontas County, West Virginia hide a long-forgotten secret.
Cody Carr/Youtube The high mountains already have an eerie feel to them. As you wind your way up narrow roads into the clouds themselves, you feel a shift in the atmosphere of the towns around you.
Just under ten miles southwest of Durbin, on the Shavers Fork of Cheat River and along the route of the Cheat Mountain Salamander train tour, lie the ruins of an old mining town: Spruce, West Virginia.
Cody Carr/Youtube There’s a certain stillness about Spruce, West Virginia that makes it as a ghost town from the first moment. This abandoned WV history is absolutely chilling.
In 1902, when Spruce was founded, it was said to be the highest, coldest town east of the Mississippi. It’s elevation? A chilly 3,853 feet. (Rumor has it that, at this height, residents of Spruce reported frosts even in the warmest months of the year.)
Cody Carr/Youtube This kind of environment lends itself to mystery. WV history is buried in these mountainsides.
Spruce was so remote that no roads ever led to or even through this mountain community - only train tracks.
Cody Carr/Youtube Workers in the area would camp nearby or take the train in and out between work shifts.
Spruce was developed primarily as a logging community with a side of coal mining thrown in. The West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company built a pulp mill adjacent to the settlement (just across the river) that operated until 1925.
Cody Carr/Youtube The back-and-forth work style of the early 1900s wasn’t favorable for families, so houses were built in the town of Spruce so that workers in the paper company didn’t have to leave their families for days at a time to stay employed.
The town also boasted a hotel (an astounding wonder for its time with 30 rooms, hot running water, and above all, electric lighting!), a locomotive shop, a school house, a company store, and company row houses.
Cody Carr/Youtube It’s pretty crazy that all of this existed without formal roads connecting Spruce to the outside world. But for a time there was a small amount of development in Spruce.
After the mill relocated to Maryland in the mid-1920s, however, the town was slowly abandoned.
Cody Carr/Youtube That employment opportunity was the only thing keeping people in this remote, frigid town at the top of a mountain.
Now, only a few ruins, a handful of picnic tables, and a network of old train tracks adorn the beautiful mountain valley.
Cody Carr/Youtube To see some recent footage of Spruce, West Virginia’s ruins for yourself, check out this video taken by Youtuber Cody Carr:
Or, if you’re bold enough, visit for yourself. There’s something beautiful and, we don’t lie, a little bit creepy about an abandoned space.
Have you ever visited Spruce, West Virginia? Did you hike in from the Snowshoe Resort area or ride through on the train?
Cody Carr/Youtube
The high mountains already have an eerie feel to them. As you wind your way up narrow roads into the clouds themselves, you feel a shift in the atmosphere of the towns around you.
There’s a certain stillness about Spruce, West Virginia that makes it as a ghost town from the first moment. This abandoned WV history is absolutely chilling.
This kind of environment lends itself to mystery. WV history is buried in these mountainsides.
Workers in the area would camp nearby or take the train in and out between work shifts.
The back-and-forth work style of the early 1900s wasn’t favorable for families, so houses were built in the town of Spruce so that workers in the paper company didn’t have to leave their families for days at a time to stay employed.
It’s pretty crazy that all of this existed without formal roads connecting Spruce to the outside world. But for a time there was a small amount of development in Spruce.
That employment opportunity was the only thing keeping people in this remote, frigid town at the top of a mountain.
To see some recent footage of Spruce, West Virginia’s ruins for yourself, check out this video taken by Youtuber Cody Carr:
Or, if you’re bold enough, visit for yourself. There’s something beautiful and, we don’t lie, a little bit creepy about an abandoned space.
If you are as fascinated by West Virginia’s abandoned ghost towns as we are, here’s the long-forgotten story of another, this one on the steep slopes of the New River Gorge: Royal, West Virginia.
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Address: Spruce, WV 26264, USA
The OIYS Visitor Center
Abandoned Places In West Virginia January 31, 2023 CC Where are there abandoned places in Indiana? If you enjoy exploring Spruce, WV, consider checking out these other fascinating abandoned places.
Lake Shawnee Amusement Park Hilltop House Hotel John’s Episcopal Church Virginius Island Old Sweet Springs Resort Lake Shawnee Amusement Park
Where are there haunted places in Indiana? If you’re feeling extra gutsy, check out these haunted places in WV while you’re at it.
The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum The West Virginia State Penitentiary Lake Shawnee Barbour County Historical Museum Camden Park Darkish Knob The Grave Creek Mound Historical Site
The OIYS Visitor Center
Abandoned Places In West Virginia
January 31, 2023
CC
Where are there abandoned places in Indiana? If you enjoy exploring Spruce, WV, consider checking out these other fascinating abandoned places.
Lake Shawnee Amusement Park Hilltop House Hotel John’s Episcopal Church Virginius Island Old Sweet Springs Resort Lake Shawnee Amusement Park
Where are there haunted places in Indiana? If you’re feeling extra gutsy, check out these haunted places in WV while you’re at it.
The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum The West Virginia State Penitentiary Lake Shawnee Barbour County Historical Museum Camden Park Darkish Knob The Grave Creek Mound Historical Site
The OIYS Visitor Center
The OIYS Visitor Center
If you enjoy exploring Spruce, WV, consider checking out these other fascinating abandoned places.
- Lake Shawnee Amusement Park
- Hilltop House Hotel
- John’s Episcopal Church
- Virginius Island
- Old Sweet Springs Resort
- Lake Shawnee Amusement Park
Where are there haunted places in Indiana?
If you’re feeling extra gutsy, check out these haunted places in WV while you’re at it.
- The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum
- The West Virginia State Penitentiary
- Lake Shawnee
- Barbour County Historical Museum
- Camden Park
- Darkish Knob
- The Grave Creek Mound Historical Site
