"Everyone’s Hometown." That’s what you see on the welcome signs coming into Thomas, West Virginia, population 554. Is a hometown feel enough to grow a remote high-valley town surrounded by national forest?
Joan Vannorsdall
Most of Thomas’s Front Street storefronts have been restored, with living space above thriving galleries and antique shops.
Mayor Matt Quattro was born and raised in Thomas. He left for 35 years—and came back in 1992 to a town with “almost nothing there.”
A hundred years ago, Thomas was home to Davis Coal and Coke, one of the largest coal companies in the world. Seven mines and 570 coke ovens sat within one mile of Thomas. The West Virginia Central & Pittsburg Railway Company located machine shops there, and Thomas claimed “the grandest railway station between Cumberland, Maryland and Elkins, West Virginia.”
Immigrants flocked to Thomas as miners, merchants, and railroaders. In his 1906 book about Thomas, T. Nutter wrote, “[T]he character of the population is truly cosmopolitan, sons and daughters of almost every country and clime being numbered among her citizens.”
Three hotels, a weekly newspaper (and the only Italian-language paper in West Virginia), churches, a community band, a bank, an opera house, several general merchandise stores, two hardware stores, two barber shops…and eight bars.
“After World War II, coal slowed. And the town fell into pretty bad shape,” Quattro says.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editor David Shribman put it like this in a 2005 column: “The prospects for Thomas were bleaker than a West Virginia winter.”
At 9 a.m. on a fall morning, Front Street is already busy, even though most of the galleries and antique shops don’t open until 10. Paralleling the north fork of the Blackwater River and the rails-to-trails walking path along it, Thomas’s main street is a beautiful place to wander. Glimpse-of-the-past signs are posted along the line of buildings, so visitors have a clear sense of what was, as they look at what is.
Yes, some of the buildings are vacant, and chickory and goldenrod grow along the streetside parking spaces. But the energy is everywhere, from the TipTop coffee shop with its fine brews, elegant pastries and reading niches to the unassuming Flying Pigs Breakfast and Lunchery, where doors open at “8-ish” and close at “2-ish.”
Sculpture and painting galleries. Antique shops. A yoga studio. A Christmas shop.
But first things first: Thomas’s anchor business, The Purple Fiddle.
In 2001, John Bright and Kate Winters bought DiPollo’s General Store, with a vision of creating a family-friendly acoustic music venue with healthy food and good beer. Eight months and a lot of work later, they opened the doors of the storied Purple Fiddle (“The Fiddle” to regulars), and the rest is music history.
Since 2002, Purple Fiddle has hosted more than 2,000 bands. You’re as likely to see a neighbor in The Fiddle as you are a visitor from D.C. or farther afield. Their weekend schedule is filled months in advance—they’re that good at choosing up-and-coming artists and bringing in established ones. It’s a laid-back venue where you can sit a few feet from the stage and listen to the likes of the Avett Brothers for a small cover charge.
At the other end of Front Street, 29-year-old Thomas native Erica Smith runs Ella’s, her home décor, wedding and event planning shop. With a degree in interior design from West Virginia University and a graduate certificate in Cultural Resources Management, Smith came home to Thomas with AmeriCorps.
Joan Vannorsdall
Ranger Jane Browning in her newly opened Spruce Street toy store.
“Everything I care about is here,” she says. “I decided I was going to build something that mattered to me. We’re cycling back to small mom-and-pop businesses on Front Street—that’s how I hope it’ll continue.”
“It wasn’t until we got these young people—the artists and musicians—that Thomas got back on its feet,” Mayor Quattro says. “We’ve got 30 businesses on Front Street alone.”
On Spruce Street, one level up the hill from Front, two newly opened shops reveal an increasing diversity to the Thomas art scene. Ranger Jane’s is the place to go for toys and games for all ages. Co-owner Jane Browning comes to work in her campground attendant uniform and hat and clearly enjoys her job.
Next door, Janice Mann sits in her shop, Mountain Magic, where you can buy her grandmother’s hot sauce, gourmet chocolate, t-shirts, books and CBD oil. She welcomes each visitor with a question: “Where you from?”
Joan Vannorsdal
Mountain Magic owner Janice Mann sells everything from hot sauce to CBD oil.
And while neither woman is a Thomas native (though Mann spent summers in Thomas with her grandparents), both bring up Thomas-as-home in conversation.
“I wanted to watch the fog burn off the mountain,” Mann says. “There’s a calling to come home.”
Can a town built by coal, coke and the railroad survive on the arts? Will the flow of young entrepreneurial artists coming to Thomas continue—and will they stay?
David Downs, real estate agent, developer and owner of Three Castle Antiques, thinks they will. Downs moved to Thomas in 1972 and has redone four buildings on Front and Spruce streets. He’s a realist: “Chain businesses are coming—the emphasis needs to be on where they locate—helter-skelter is not what we want to do.”
Mayor Matt Quattro believes the arts are Thomas’s future. “We’re surrounded by government land—and we don’t have the infrastructure for development.”
Steve Leyh of the Tucker County Development Authority sees other possibilities based on a “flexible business campus with open space and connecting trails to both Thomas and Davis. I see us attracting companies who would be a good fit with the local culture [outdoor industries], food and beverage manufacturing [both Thomas and nearby Davis have craft breweries], and internet technology firms.”
Located near U.S. 48 and close to Blackwater Falls and Canaan Valley State Parks and Dolly Sods Wilderness, Thomas has a head start on many other small mountain towns. But even without these benefits, Thomas has a lot going for it as it moves forward: a well-conveyed civic story; a strong downtown; a clear sense of community; an identity as a tolerant haven for artists; a forward-thinking, integrated approach to development.
There’s a lot to like about Thomas: a town where a diverse and storied past is becoming art-present.
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The story above appears in our Jan./Feb. 2019 issue. For more like it, subscribe today or log in to the digital edition with your active digital subscription.