The Pocahontas County Opera House is located in rural Marlinton, West Virginia. Court reporter J.G. Tilton, of Mount Vernon, Ohio, built the original building in 1907. [1] In 1910, the current building was added on. It currently serves as a performance venue for local and traveling performers as well as a community center for county residents, although it has at times been a newspaper, a roller rink, and a car dealership. [2] The Pocahontas County Opera House Foundation operates as a non-profit to oversee programmatic aspects of the venue.
The Opera House also serves as a community center. Many organizations host suppers, meetings square dances, and even weddings at the facility. The Foundation also hosts music jams and movie nights for Pocahontas County, West Virginia residents.
The Pocahontas Opera House was originally built in 1910 by lumber businessman and publisher of the Marlinton Messenger, J. G. Tilton. Marlinton was the epicenter of the regions lumber business at the time. [3]
In the early twentieth century, groups from as far away as New York performed in this booming railroad town. [4] In 1912, Tilton's newspaper, the Marlinton Messenger, was published in the Opera House. [5] County fairs, basketball games, and other community events took place in the space as well. As the railroad economy changed, Tilton sold the building. Throughout the rest of the century it was used for various purposes such as a lumberyard and a car dealership. [6]
In 1991, the Pocahontas County Historic Landmarks Commission bought the property. At that time, there was no floor or stage in the Opera House. [7] Through community donations and support, the Commission restored the Opera House to its present state in 1998 when the Pocahontas County Opera House Foundation formed. The Foundation oversees the performance series which includes various musical genres from bluegrass to salsa to classical to jazz. The season also includes dance and theater. [8]
The Opera House received a facelift in 2021, with patching of the mortar parging of the historic building and new exterior paint by a company specializing in such work on historic buildings. [3]
Pocahontas County is a county located in the eastern part of the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 7,869. Its county seat is Marlinton. The county was established in 1821. It is named after the daughter of the Powhatan chief of the Native Americans in the United States who came from Jamestown, Virginia. She married an English settler, and their children became ancestors of many of the First Families of Virginia.
Flora is a city in Clay County, Illinois, United States. The population was 4,803 at the 2020 census.
Richwood is a city in Nicholas County, West Virginia, United States. In 2020, the census showed Richwood with a population of 1,661. During the 19th and early 20th century Richwood was a booming coal and lumber town. Richwood has a very rich history, including the formation of the Cherry River Navy civic organization to draw attention to issues important to the community. Richwood has also become known statewide as the "Ramp Capital of the World". Each year, in April, the city hosts a large festival that draws visitors from around the country.
Marlinton is a town in and the county seat of Pocahontas County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 998 at the 2020 census. Located along the Greenbrier River, it is known for its scenery.
The Norfolk and Western Railway, commonly called the N&W, was a US class I railroad, formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It was headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, for most of its existence. Its motto was "Precision Transportation"; it had a variety of nicknames, including "King Coal" and "British Railway of America". In 1986, N&W merged with Southern Railway to form today's Norfolk Southern Railway.
The Greenbrier River is a tributary of the New River, 162 miles (261 km) long, in southeastern West Virginia, in the United States. Via the New, Kanawha and Ohio rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River, draining an area of 1,656 square miles (4,290 km2). It is one of the longest rivers in West Virginia.
Cass Scenic Railroad State Park is a state park and heritage railroad located in Cass, Pocahontas County, West Virginia.
Minnehaha Springs is an unincorporated community located in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, United States. It was named for the fictional Native American "princess," Minnehaha, and the mineral springs on the Lockridge farm. It is the only community with this name in the United States. On the site of what is now Camp Twin Creeks warm mineral springs can still be found.
Cass is a census-designated place (CDP) and unincorporated community on the Greenbrier River in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 38 at the 2020 census. The community, founded in 1901, was named for Joseph Kerr Cass, vice president and cofounder of the West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company.
Calvin Price State Forest is a 9,482-acre (38 km2) state forest in eastern Pocahontas and Greenbrier counties, West Virginia. The forest is the newest in West Virginia's system, having been mostly purchased in 1953 from New River Lumber Company. The forest is named for Marlinton newspaper editor, Calvin W. Price.
Rapidan is a small unincorporated community in the Virginia counties of Culpeper and Orange, approximately 5 miles (8 km) northeast of the Town of Orange. The community, located on both sides of the Rapidan River, was established in the late eighteenth century around the Waugh's Ford mill. The Orange and Alexandria Railroad built a line through the town in 1854, a post office was built at the river crossing, and its name was changed to Rapid Ann Station. Milling remained a major industry in the area up through the mid-twentieth century.
Pocahontas Island is a peninsula in Petersburg, Virginia, once on the opposite side of the Appomattox River from Petersburg. Since 1915 a new channel for the river separated it from Chesterfield County and the former channel no longer separates it from the city. Once a warehouse and wharf-filled urban landscape initially platted in 1749, the island was devastated by a 1993 tornado before citizen involvement caused creation of the Pocahontas Island Historic District, which in 2006 achieved listing on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) as a historic district because of its significance in African-American history and for its prehistoric indigenous archeological assets.
Burner is an unincorporated community in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, United States. Burner is located on the west fork of the Greenbrier River, 5 miles (8.0 km) north of Durbin and was established by the Pocahontas Lumber Company in 1903.
Watoga is an unincorporated community in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, United States. Watoga is located on the east bank of the Greenbrier River, 3.5 miles (5.6 km) east-northeast of Hillsboro.
IOOF Lodge Building, also known as the Peacock Building, is a historic building located at Marlinton, Pocahontas County, West Virginia. It was built in 1905, and is a two-story, rectangular frame Italianate style commercial building. It measures approximately 106 feet by 56 feet. The first floor has two storefronts and the second floor has the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Lodge 102 / Modern Woodmen of America meeting hall. The lodges continued to use the building until it was sold in 1999.
Pocahontas Fuel Company Store and Office Buildings are a historic company store and an office building located at Jenkinjones, McDowell County, West Virginia. Both buildings were designed by architect Alex B. Mahood and built in 1917. They were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.
Frank and Anna Hunter House, also known as Pocohontas County Museum, is a historic home located at Marlinton, Pocahontas County, West Virginia. It was built in 1903, and is a two-story, square frame dwelling. The house has a hipped roof with dormers and crowned with a captain's walk. The front elevation features Victorian-Gothic "icing" ornamentation. Also on the property is a log cabin built about 1850 and moved to the property from nearby Beards Mountain. The Pocohontas County Historical Society purchased the property for use as a museum in 1963.
Marlinton Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad Station was a historic railway station and bunkhouse located at Marlinton, Pocahontas County, West Virginia. They were built in 1901 by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad. The station was a frame, rectangular, one-story building measuring 76 feet by 16 feet and used for both passengers and freight. The bunkhouse is a one-story frame building measuring 24 feet by 16 feet. Both buildings featured vertical board and batten siding and decorative brackets in the wide projecting eaves of their gable roofs. Passenger service ended at Marlinton in 1958. Given its location at the trailhead of the Greenbrier River Trail, the station was renovated to house the Pocahontas County Convention and Visitors Bureau. The station was destroyed by fire in 2008; the bunkhouse remains extant.
Pocahontas County Courthouse and Jail is a historic courthouse and jail located at Marlinton, Pocahontas County, West Virginia. The courthouse was built in 1894, and is a 2 1/2-story, brick, Victorian Romanesque building with a stone raised basement level. It has irregular massing with a central block that has a steep hip roof. The front elevation features two towers, one at each corner. A courthouse annex building was added in 1976. The jail is a two-story brick building in simple Romanesque Style. It was built at the same time as the courthouse as the jailer's residence. A brick two-story shallow hip roofed ell was added in 1926, to house the jail.
Pocahontas Times Print Shop is a historic building located at Marlinton, Pocahontas County, West Virginia. It was built in 1900, and is a one-story, rectangular frame building measuring approximately 21 feet by 75 feet. It was built to house The Pocahontas Times newspaper operations. As late as the 1970s, it housed a paper folder and press installed around 1911. The Pocahontas Times has been published since 1882.