Ghost Towns of Appalachia By Scott Angles
Story by, Scott Angles
Photos by,
Things of this world are in so constant a flux that nothing remains long in the same state. - John Locke
Locke penned this simple truism in the late 17th century, a turbulent time of social upheaval and change. Greater than three hundred years later however, Locke’s world view is no less true than it was in his time. In today’s interconnected world, change is visible everywhere, from the political unrest in the Middle East, to the increasing impact of global climate change. And while large transformations such as these are easy to observe due to widespread media coverage and public discourse, change on a local level, due to its intimate proximity, is much more difficult to discern. Such is the case with Athens County, which has changed profoundly since its founding in 1805.
The real story of Athens County begins not with its founding however, but hundreds of millions of years before humans walked the earth. To truly understand the evolution of Athens County, one must recede 570 million years ago to the Cambrian geologic period. At this time, a shallow sea covered much of Ohio and would continue to do so until the end of the Mississippian geologic era around 325 million years ago when the seas receded. Southeastern Ohio’s prolonged submersion lead to the deposition of layers of sedimentary rocks; limestone, shale and sandstone. During the next two geologic ages, the Pennsylvanian and Permian, the lands of Southeastern Ohio became a shallow coastal swamp occupied by thick tropical fauna. This plant life, once dead, decomposed to form thick seams of carbon, which would later become coal. In the later Permian age, around 248 million years ago, the swamps receded, leaving the land, which would eventually come to be known as Athens County high and dry. Thus, geologic processes, taking place over many millions of years, worked to shape the terrain of Southeastern Ohio into the image witnessed by its first human inhabitants.
The first settlers of Athens County were tribes of Adena Native Americans. These first inhabitants were a mound-building people whom relied upon the rich natural resources of the area, especially its abundant game. Evidence of Athens’ first settlers is scattered throughout the county in the form of ceremonial and burial mounds left behind by these early Americans. Many of these mounds are located around The Plains, located just northwest of Athens. It is believed that the local Adena tribes viewed the area around The Plains as a place of religious importance as it also was used as a burial site. The Adena tribal society flourished in the region from 800 BC until around the first century of the Common Era, when it began to decline, likely due to competition with the more sophisticated Hopewell culture.
After the fall of the Adena culture, the land lay vacant of permanent human settlement, although it was occasionally frequented by Hopewell natives and, after European colonization, French fur trappers. The next permanent residents of the county began arriving in the early 18th century. Driven ever westward by European expansion, members of the Delaware and Shawnee tribes began moving into Ohio.. The Delaware founded Wanduchale’s Town in Troy Township and the Shawnee founded the aptly named Shawnee Town located just southwest of present day town of Chauncey. Both of these Native American tribes had been driven westward by the ever encroaching European settlers of the British colonies. The peace these tribes found in thick woodlands of Athens County would not last long however, as French and then English fur trappers and traders began to explore the area. It would not be long before conflict inevitably arose between the two peoples.
One of the first disputes between the natives and colonists arose in 1776 when frontiersman and soldier Robert Patterson, along with six other men, made their way northward from the Ohio River, encamping in Troy Township for the night. While the men slept that night, a group of Native Americans fired upon the men before rushing with tomahawks and knives to finish the job. The men managed to fight off the attack, although one of the men was killed and all were severely wounded. Patterson realized that his men had little chance of reaching the nearest settlement in their present condition so he decided to send the man who was the least wounded to get help. After four days the rescue party returned and ferried the men down the Ohio River to the nearest settlement in boats. This is just one of a number of conflicts with natives that marked the early settlement of Athens County. Eventually these sporadic events led to full-scale warfare between the newly formed United States and a confederation of tribes. The resulting conflict, known as the Northwest Indian War or Little Turtles War, lasted from 1785-1795, and ended with a decisive American victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. Having attempted unsuccessfully to protect their lands by force of arms from American settlement, the remaining Indian tribes began to leave the region and move westward, leaving the lands of Athens open for large-scale settlement.
The American settlement of Athens began with the 1786 formation of the Ohio Company of Associates. Founded by General Rufus Putnam, the organization aimed to purchase and settle the lands around the Ohio River. In 1787 the company purchased roughly 1,500,000 acres in Southeastern Ohio from the Confederate Congress, including the area which would become Athens County. In the agreement, the Confederate Congress also stipulated that certain acreage of the purchased land be used for the building of public schools and churches. It was not until the end of the Northwest Indian war, in 1795, that General Putnam could safely complete a survey of the county; however once completed, he active encouraged settlement of the area. In 1797, a group of settlers led by Alan Bingham canoed up the Hocking River and landed where present day Athens stands today. Over the ensuing years, the number of settlers in the lands surrounding Athens increased until the population was great enough for legislature to establish the county of Athens on February 20, 1805.
As increasing numbers of settlers began migrating to the area, they began to establish communities in areas where essential natural resources were located. One such natural resource that was particularly essential to these early Athenians was salt. Salt, while treasured as a food seasoning, was essential to keeping meat persevered, of particular importance in an age in which the icebox, let alone the refrigerator of modern times had yet to be invented. During the early years, salt prices soared in the county, as settlers had to travel to Salk Creek, a journey of close to 60 miles through rough country. In the early days, records show that salt prices reached $6 a bushel, an astronomical sum for the time, roughly $87 in today’s currency. Obviously an alternative source of salt, one closer to Athens, needed to be exploited.
Thankfully for these early pioneers, abundant salt springs were discovered just a few miles northwest of Athens on the banks of the Hocking across the river from where the Chauncey currently stands today. During the 1820’s, salt wells were bored in this area and a thriving community named Salina grew up around the salt works. Another salt works was also established two miles south of Athens, and the resulting community that sprang up around these works became known as Harmony. These communities, including Chauncey, began to grow rapidly throughout the early and mid-1800’s, although it was in the years following the Civil War that these communities really began to boom. For a period lasting roughly 20 years, Athens County became a leading producer of salt in Ohio, producing over 50,000 barrels per year. Today, nothing remains to mark to location of Harmony, however the community of Salina is marked by a lone sign that lies alongside the present Hocking Adena bikeway that runs along the Hocking River towards Nelsonville.
In the years following the Civil War, coal mining became the dominant industry in the county. This was spurred largely by the completion of the Columbus and Hocking Valley railroads, which ran into Nelsonville in 1869. This allowed coal to be easily shipped from the region and set off a mining boom. As an 1870 newspaper article that appeared in the Hocking Sentinel said, “Our valley smiles as it never did before, and laughs all over, when the cars come murmuring through cut and curve with their long line of heavy loads of black diamonds.”
This mining boom led to the settlement of a myriad of mining communities around the richest coal seams (a product of the geology of the Pennsylvanian and Permian ages) that existed in the area. The majority of these settlements often formed directly around mine works, as the majority of mine operators maintained company stores and housing. While prosperous during the height of the mining boom in the late 1800’s, today many of these once bustling communities are now either completely abandoned or exist mere shades of their former selves. Their varied names now only remembered in dusty history books in the county historic society: True Town, 210 Row, Carbondale, Mineral, Glen Ebon, Pleasanton, Hebbardsville, Chase, Connet, Five Points, and the list goes on. These communities were crucial to the life of Athens County throughout the end of the 19th century as they supplied a wealth of coal and subsequently economic growth.
Coal production began to slacken in the first half of the 20th century however, as alternative fuel sources such as oil began to supplement the use of coal for heating and use in steam powered machinery. The mining industry was also hurt by the increasing availability of purer coal from other regions. The coal of Athens County has relatively high concentrations of sulfur and pyrite, impurities that produce more pollution when the coal is burned and make it less efficient than purer coal. By the mid-20th century, coal mining had ceased to become profitable business venture, leading to the many mining companies going out of business and the dissolution of the communities that had formed around them.
The termination of Athens’ “golden age of mining” led to the twilight of many small communities in Athens County. And while these towns may now only exist as names on outdated maps and in dusty books, they once were real places; communities where generations of Athenian men and women worked, lived and died. The Athens County of today, with its endemic poverty and economic stagnation, bears little resemblance to the bustling activity that occurred here in centuries past. However, understanding the present requires an intimate knowledge of the past. The history of Athens County is tied to communities; from the native American communities of Shawnee Town and Wanduchale’s Town, to the modern towns of Salina and Hebbardsville. Athens present is inextricably bound to its past.
