More than 75,000 whitewater rafters annually pass the old Coal Run Company Store at Cunard. It’s one of the best-known landmarks on the scenic route into the New River Gorge. Including more than an acre of level bottomland with high visibility, the property is ideally suited for a tourism-based business, though it could also be converted into a residence. A two-bedroom residential quarters is at the rear of the storerooms.

HIGHLIGHTS AND ATTRIBUTES

• Historic Construction
• 3,252 square foot store/residence
• Near the rim of the New River Gorge
• High tourist visibility
• Whitewater rafting traffic
• National Park trail hub
• Six miles to Fayetteville
• Six miles to US-19
• Eight miles to New River Gorge Bridge

About the Coal Run Company Store Building

Barn-like in appearance, the company store building was built in 1935 to serve the needs of the village that developed around it. Among other attributes, it includes a central, large room measuring 30 by 70 feet, nearly two stories high, with a circuit of upper-story windows designed to maximize sunlight. Two large store rooms flank the central store room, while a two-bedroom apartment for the storekeeper extends off the rear.

Condition Of The Company Store

The building has been sitting vacant for a few years, and this wonderful building will be a restoration project. Here are a few things that are issues that we know of:

• Roof: the shingle roof is leaking, and replacement is needed.
• Heating: The heating system needs to be replaced. The basement does have some ductwork in place.
• Electric: The electric is not up to code.
• Septic Waste Disposal: Nothing is known about the waste disposal system, and may need to have a new state approved system installed.
• Please see below that Historic Registry approval would offer possible grants and tax credits.

Within its massive cut-stone foundation, a large unfinished basement includes multiple entrances. In the basement, the massive beams, joists, and posts that support the large central store room are evident.

Main Store Room: 30 x 70 feet
North Store Room: 12 x 66 feet
South Store Room: 10 x 36 feet
Storekeepers Rooms: 30 x 27 feet
Covered Front Porch: 30 x 27 feet

NATIONAL REGISTER STATUS

Though the property is not currently protected, state officials have indicated that the building may be eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places, which could provide funding for its repair and maintenance. Grants and tax credits of more than 45 percent would be provided to owners to cover repair costs thereafter. Register status may also be used to secure funding from other economic development sources.

LOCATION

Google Coordinates: 37.998366406966234, -81.03995221599772
Address: 36 Rabbit Run Road, Fayetteville, WV 25840
Elevation Range: 1,610 to 1,630 feet above sea level

MINERAL RESOURCES

The owner’s deed says that the ownership is SURFACE ONLY. West Virginia is one of the states in the U.S. that has two ownership titles, those being SURFACE RIGHTS and MINERAL RIGHTS. The minerals and mineral rights have been excepted and reserved in the owner’s deed.

BOUNDARIES AND SURVEY

The property is being sold by the boundary and not by the acre.

UTILITIES

Water: American Water
Electricity: American Electric Power
Internet: Frontier, Optimum, Starlink
Fire Service: Fayetteville Fire Department
Cell: Coverage is spotty in the valley at Cunard
Sewer: Requires septic

ACCESS/FRONTAGE

The property fronts Cunard Road (CR-9) and Rabbit Run Road (CR-9/10).

ZONING

Fayette County is subject to some zoning and subdivision regulations. All prospective buyers should consult the Fayette County Commission and the Fayette County Health Department for details regarding zoning, building codes, and installation of septic systems.

PROPERTY TYPE/USE SUMMARY

The property has most recently been used as a storeroom and residence.

DEED AND TAX INFORMATION

Deed Information: Deed Book 609, Page 163; Deed Book 690, Page 584

Fayette County, West Virginia
Acreage: 1.13 acres +/-

Real Estate Tax ID/Acreage/Taxes:
Fayette County (10), West Virginia
Plateau District (2)
Tax Maps: 16L Parcels 28, 29; Class 3

2025 Real Estate Taxes: $922.00

SCHOOLS

Public & Private Schools

The property is located within the Fayette County School District. Public school students attend the multi-use campus at Oak Hill where primary, intermediate, and high schools and the county’s vocational school are located. Several private schools within the Fayette County School District operate in the region, and homeschool programs are supported.

Higher Education

West Virginia University and New River Community & Technical College maintain campuses at Beckley, 25 miles to the south. Concord University and Bluefield State College courses are offered there at the nearby Irma Byrd Higher Education Center. Appalachian Bible College is a drive of approximately 10 minutes south at Bradley.

HEALTHCARE

The nearest hospital to the property, Plateau Medical Center in Oak Hill, is a 9-mile drive and has 25 beds and an emergency care unit. Nearby, at Beckley, medical facilities include Raleigh General Hospital, with 300 beds, and Appalachian Regional Hospital, with 173 beds. They include emergency rooms and are both approximately 20 minutes away. A Veterans Administration Medical Center with 80 beds, including 30 long-term care beds, is also located in Beckley. Major state medical centers are in Charleston and Morgantown, an hour and 2.5 hours from Glen Jean, respectively.

TRANSPORTATION

The property was chosen as a location for the present workshop as a result of easy interstate highway access, though air and train traffic are also convenient to the location.

MOTOR VEHICLE TRAFFIC

The property is fewer than two miles from the US-19 expressway and eight miles north of the expressway’s junction with I-77 and I-64 at North Beckley (exit 48). It is also eight miles from I-77 and I-64 at Mossy (exit 60) . More than 19,000 motor vehicles pass on US-19 daily, including more than 3,000 trucks, while more than 31,000 vehicles use the interstates daily, including more than 12,000 trucks. 12 min (7.8 mi)

AIR TRAVEL

Near Beckley, the nearest airport is a 45-minute drive. Yeager Airport at Charleston, a 65-minute drive, is West Virginia’s largest airport and is served by Delta, Spirit, United, and American. Its busiest domestic routes are Charlotte, Atlanta, Chicago, Orlando, and Washington. It is also home to the McLaughlin Air National Guard Base.

TRAIN TRAVEL

Freight and Amtrak passenger rail services are provided to stations nearby at Prince, a 40-minute drive from the property.

SURROUNDING AREA

The property is located at Cunard (population 97), an unincorporated community in the heart of the northern New River Gorge region. Its economy is centered chiefly around the national park and outdoor recreation. Though Cunard is rural and surrounded in most directions by forest land owned by the park service and the Boy Scouts of America, an estimated 100,000 residents live in the region. While the region was once known for farming and coal mining, the outdoor recreation industry has taken the lead as the leading regional industry.

NEW RIVER GORGE NATIONAL PARK AND PRESERVE

One of the nation’s newest national parks, the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, attracts more than three million visitors annually to the region. The park’s best-known attraction, the New River Gorge Bridge, is a drive of approximately eight miles at Fayetteville. Hiking, biking, angling, hunting, kayaking, and camping are popular throughout the park, though it may best be known as a destination for rock climbing and whitewater rafting. The park is among the nation’s top destinations for both.

SUMMIT BECHTEL NATIONAL SCOUT RESERVE

A drive of less than 20 minutes from the property, the 14,000-acre Bechtel Reserve, also known as “The Summit,” is a world-class outdoor recreation park that also hosts the quadrennial Boy Scout Jamboree and is home to one of five national high-adventure bases for the scouts. The 24th World Scout Jamboree welcomed more than 45,000 visitors in 2019. The reserve is the home of the organization’s Paul R. Christen National High Adventure Base, the James C. Justice National Scout Camp, and the John D. Tickle National Training and Leadership Center.

HUNTING PRESERVES

Two public hunting and fishing areas totaling 10,000 acres of woodland are located within 20 miles of the property. Deer, bear, turkey, and squirrel are the principal game taken. The Plum Orchard Lake Wildlife Management Area includes 202-acre Plum Orchard Lake, a popular flatwater kayaking and fishing destination. The Beury Mountain Wildlife Management Area conserves some of the most remote highland forests in the region. In addition to the two preserves, hunting in the national park is also permitted in season on more than 65,000 acres.

OUTDOOR RECREATION RESORTS

Based around the national park, seven outdoor adventure resorts are located near the property. All offer guided whitewater rafting tours on the New and Gauley rivers, and most include basecamps that accommodate cabins and camping and coordinate outdoor recreation adventures. Several offer canopy tours, zip lines, and adventure courses. All bus passengers go through Cunard on the road past the store building.

CUNARD TRAILS

Three national park hiking trails converge at Cunard. Trailheads for the Kaymoor and Brooklyn Mine trails are a half-mile from the store and attract hardcore hikers. The 8.5-mile Kaymoor Trail leads to the New River Gorge Bridge. The 2.7 Brooklyn Mine Trail leads to the ruins of the Brooklyn Mine, and it is also one of the few park trails on which horseback riding is permitted. The South Side Trail is located some distance from the town along the river near the Cunard River Access area.

CUNARD RIVER ACCESS

The Cunard River Access offers paddlers access to some of the New River’s most dynamic and scenic stretches. It sits at the mouth of the lower gorge and is frequently used by boaters, rafters, kayak and canoe users, and is known for its well-maintained facilities (including restrooms), parking, and amenities that make it a convenient launch for both guided and independent trips. For many paddlers, the section from Cunard to Fayette Station is a preferred run because it packs in challenging rapids without the slower upper pools, and it offers spectacular views throughout.

HISTORY OF CUNARD

The modern community of Cunard lies in the highlands outside the gorge and contributes little more than its name to the river-access area. The origins of the name trace back to a mining community that once stood at the bottom of the gorge along the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway’s South Side Branch, where a station named Cunard was established in the early 1890s.

The Cunard Colliery opened shortly after the C&O extended its South Side Branch from Rush Run to the area in 1891. State records show that the mine was operated successively by the Cunard Coal Company (1894–1904), the New River Smokeless Coal Company (1905–1908), and the Coal Run Coal Company (1918–1944).

By 1896, the Cunard Coal Company was listed as operating a drift mine on the four-foot-thick Sewell seam. The company employed 65 men, under the supervision of F. Howard, who also oversaw the nearby Brooklyn Mine. Its post office was located at Sewell. A 1906 C&O publication noted that the Cunard operation included 65 coke ovens and a tipple.

Mining reports from 1901 describe the Cunard mine as working a Sewell seam opening situated 780 feet above the C&O tracks. Coal was lowered to the tipple via a 1,750-foot incline, with each trip consisting of three cars carrying 1.5 tons apiece.

By 1919, the West Virginia Geological Survey reported that the original Cunard mine had been abandoned “for some years.” A new mine, also called Cunard, was then operated by the Scotia Coal Company high above the river, at an elevation of 1,710 feet, about 0.6 miles west of Sewell. Over time, the settlement that grew up around this hillside mine became known as Cunard and appeared on many maps. A 1919 USGS map labeled both the original mining site along the river and the newer hillside community as “Cunard.”

In 1923, the Coal Run Coal Company operated the Cunard mine, employing 96 workers for 132 days. Both pick and machine mining were used, with 11 locomotives hauling coal. Superintendent C. L. Garvin and mine foreman Aaron Richmond oversaw the work. According to The Coal Catalog (1920), the Cunard tipple featured shaker screens and loading booms, and produced run-of-mine, slack, egg, and lump coal. The company purchased its electrical power rather than generating it on-site.

DRIVE TIMES

Though in a rural area, Cunard and the property are located near the center of the eastern U.S. The following mileage and drive time estimates are based on Google calculations.

LOCAL DESTINATIONS

2.5 miles to Summit Bechtel Reserve
4.5 miles to the national park boundary
20 minutes to City of Oak Hill
20 minutes to City of Mount Hope
30 minutes to I-77/64 at North Beckley
15 minutes to the Town of Fayetteville
15 minutes to New River Gorge Bridge
25 minutes to City of Beckley
30 minutes to Town of Pax
45 minutes to Summersville Lake
60 minutes to Winterplace Ski Resort
45 minutes to Town of Summersville
60 minutes to City of Hinton
90 minutes to City of Charleston
90 minutes to I-79 near Sutton

REGIONAL U.S. DESTINATIONS

65 miles to Charleston, West Virginia
100 miles to Blacksburg, Virginia
110 miles to Huntington, West Virginia
100 miles to Clarksburg, West Virginia
130 miles to Morgantown, West Virginia
190 miles to Winston-Salem, North Carolina
220 miles to Charlottesville, Virginia
225 miles to Columbus, Ohio
225 miles to Charlotte, North Carolina
230 miles to Lexington, Kentucky
245 miles to Knoxville, Tennessee
220 miles to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
250 miles to Cincinnati, Ohio
260 miles to Richmond, Virginia
300 miles to Cleveland, Ohio
315 miles to Washington, D.C.
350 miles to Baltimore, Maryland
350 miles to Erie, Pennsylvania
450 miles to Atlanta, Georgia