Located between two mountain ridges in Fayette County, WV, is the remnants of what once was the Beards Fork coal camp. The town of Beards Fork is reported to have received its name from a hermit named Beard who lived in the area. Two different resources name either the Kopper's Coal Company or the Loup Colliery Company as the operators of the Beardsfork coal town. At one time Beards Fork's claim to fame was having the longest coal tipple in the world spanning this valley at a length of 5555 ft (1693 m ). There were two inclines from two mines, part of the New River Field, that fed this tipple and the coal was transported out via the Virginian Railroad.
All the pictures that I saw were of a small collection of very well kept homes. The town that evolved from this camp still exists today, but is so small that it doesn't even have a post office. It appears that the town did not grow after deep mining left the area, but recently Beards Fork and coal has entered the news again as a new coal company based out of India proposes to strip mine and fill the valley that the town occupies.
