Giles, Fayette and Kanawha Turnpike
From West Virginia (WV) Cyclopedia
Largely due to the efforts and influence of General Alfred Beckley, founder of present-day Beckley, WV, the Virginia General Assembly in 1837 passed an act incorporating the Giles, Fayette and Kanawha Turnpike Company. Like most Virginian turnpike companies of that era, it was established to build a public road to be funded by private investment and by tolls to be charged travelers at gates erected along the route. The road was to traverse the wilderness of Giles, Fayette, and Kanawha counties in western Virginia, coursing between the valleys of the upper Kanawha River, in the north, and middle New River, in the south. The road would also link two important east-west thoroughfares -- the Midland Trail, which it joined in the north at Kanawha Falls, and the Wilderness Road, which it joined in the south at Giles Courthouse (present-day Pearisburg). Its route was planned by renowned French engineer Claudius Crozet, who was charged with the design of much of the Virginian transportation system of the period.
The company's subscription books were opened under the direction of the following: In Charleston, under James A. Lewis, William Whitaker, Sr., John Welch, John F. Fore, and Thomas R. Fie. At the house of John Jones in Kanawha County, under Felix G. Hansford, Benjamin Morris, Philip Buster, John Richards, and Luke Wilcox. In Peterstown, Monroe County, under John Peters, James McLaferty, Jr., James Byrnsides, Conrad Peters, and Jacob Peck. At the house of Dillon Vandal in Fayette County, under Oliver Waite, Hiram Hill, Dillon Vandal, John Marrs, and William Blake.
On March 19, 1841, the Assembly authorized the company to extend their road to the furnace of Foar and Peyton on the south side of the Kanawha River. The turnpike was completed by 1848, according to the West Virginia Division of Highways; however, its usefulness was short-lived. Troop movements all but annihilated the route during the Civil War, and the newborn State of West Virginia was too impoverished to maintain the road following the conflict. Parts of the road in more populated areas, such as at Beckley, and Fayetteville, remained in use and survive to this day.
Route of the Giles, Fayette and Kanawha Turnpike
The turnpike coursed northward from Pearisburg, Va., to Red Sulphur Springs, WV, in Monroe County, then followed Indian Creek to its mouth on New River, where it forded. The pike then followed the western bank of the river northward to the mouth of the Bluestone River, forded the Bluestone, then ascended Bluestone Mountain to the area of present-day Nimitz and to the Jumping Branch of the Little Bluestone River. From the Jumping Branch it ascended White Oak Mountain, the highest elevation along its route, to a gap leading into the upper drainage of Glade Creek. From White Oak it coursed northwestward across the uplands of present-day Raleigh County, through Shady Spring, crossing Shady Spring Mountain, descending to the junction of Beaver Creek and Piney Creek, then ascending to the town of Beckleyville. There it turned northward again, ascended to the summit of Maxwell Hill, proceeded along a series of ridges through the present-day communities of Prosperity and Bradley, and descended into the valley of Dunloup Creek near the site of present-day Mount Hope. There it ascended into the ridges west of the creek and its tributary White Oak Creek to Oak Hill, where it reached the level plateau region south of Fayetteville. At Fayetteville, its coursed turned northwestward again as it ascended and descended Cotton Hill to the banks of the Kanawha River at Kanawha Falls. A short distance below the falls, travelers might be ferried across the river to the James River & Kanawha Turnpike. Two other turnpikes joined the Giles, Fayette & Kanawha along its route. The Raleigh, Wythe & Greyson Turnpike joined at Shady Spring, and the Guyandotte Turnpike joined at Beckleyville.
Route of the Turnpike Today
As well designed as such a route could be, much of the turnpike has been absorbed into the existing network of roads and highways in southern West Virginia. North Kanawha Street and South Kanawha Street in Beckley follow the route of the turnpike precisely. Wildwood, home of turnpike proponent Alfred Beckley, stands along this leg of the route. A disused length of the turnpike in Bluestone State Park is now preserved as the park's Turnpike Trail.
