A Building Evolves

A Building Evolves. New River Gorge National River. This large foundation supported what was probably the most imposing residential building in Nuttallburg. It illustrates the quality of homes in which more-prominent families lived, and also demonstrates the evolution of Nuttallburg over time., Historians believe that the house was originally built as the family home of Jackson Taylor, son-in-law of John Nuttall. Taylor had married John and Elizabeth Nuttall's daughter Martha. He served as company bookkeeper and was an equal partner in the mine operation., The Boarding House Era , In later years, after the mine had changed ownership, the structure became the "white clubhouse," a boarding house and social center for white single or transient mine workers. Like all social institutions here, the clubhouse was segregated., A man who had brought his wife with him would rent a four room house from the coal company. One room was used as a kitchen and eating room. The man, his wife and children occupied a second room. The other two rooms had four beds each, and eight men would sleep in each room. The woman would cook and wash for all the men. , W. P. Tams, Jr. , The Smokeless Coal Fields of West Virginia Tams is describing a boarding house in a coal town.