Over the River

Over the River. New River Gorge National Park and Preserve. , The area across the river was known as Southside Junction. During the industrial boom of the early 1900s, it helped draw many people to the Thurmond area for both business and pleasure., Southside Junction boasted the famous Dunglen Hotel, as well as a cash mercantile, drug store, shoe shop, movie theater, mortuary, and railroad yard. Several money-making ventures not allowed in Thurmond during its early years-namely saloons with high- stakes gambling and brothels-lured many to the wilder side of Southside Junction, also known as "Ballyhack.", Dunglen Hotel , The Dunglen Hotel, known as the "Waldorf of the Mountains," was a center for commerce and social activity for nearly 30 years until it burned down in an arson fire in 1930. With over 100 rooms, the hotel housed a restaurant, gambling hall, bar (until West Virginia prohibition in 1914), showrooms for traveling merchants to display their latest products, and a ballroom for dances, music, and theater productions. The Dunglen Hotel was thought of as one of the best hotels in the region., A Varied Reputation , Outside of Thurmond's town limits, laborers and businessmen flocked to Southside Junction for its offerings. This untitled poem from the early 1900s reflects the area's rough-and-tumble reputation.,

You have heard of the California gold rush, , Way back in forty-nine , But Thurmond on New River , Will beat it every time. , There's people here from everywhere, , The colored and the white. , Some mother's son bites the dust , Almost every night. , On payday they come to Thurmond , With a goodly roll of bills. , Some gamblers get their dough , And they sneak back to the hills. , Some though ne'er return alas , And they meet a thug. , We find them on the railroad track , Or in the Thurmond jug. , Where handy is the blackjack , And the price of life is low , At Thurmond on New River , Along the C&O. , Where men are often missing , After the drinker's fight, , And the crime laid on the river , And the trains that pass at night., - Captain H.W. Doolittle, C&O conductor and poet