Jerry F. Couch, 2021
From the July 4, 1986 edition of the Daily Press, Newport News, VA…
MINING TOWN TO BE AUCTIONED TO SETTLE ESTATE
TRAMMEL (AP) — He has sold a lot of houses curing his 15-year career, but auctioneer Gaines Dickenson said Thursday he never thought he would find himself auctioning off a town.
When Dickenson climbs onto a platform in a tent next to the Trammel Baptist Church on July 12, he will be calling for bids on most of the community’s six-dozen houses, the combination post office and general store, and the land beneath them.
The money will be used to settle the estate of Marguerite S. Bird, whose husband bought the Dickenson County coal-mining camp decades ago.
Although the possibility of a sale has loomed over residents since Mrs. Bird died in about 1974, many were surprised when the auction was announced in June and are scrambling to find money to buy the tiny row houses. The two-week-old Trammel Homeowners Association is having a bake sale, car wash, and gospel music concert to help residents raise the 10 percent down payment, said Clady Johnson, vice chairman.
“We’re at these people’s mercy, I’m telling you,” she said by telephone. “We need everything we can get from everywhere we can get it.”
But Dickenson and Glenda Gaby, who has managed the rental houses for the Bird estate, believe residents are overreacting. New owners probably will keep renting the houses to the current residents and provide money for badly-needed repairs, Dickenson said.
“In my opinion, this auction will be the best thing that has ever happened to Trammel.,” he said. “For some reason these people have gotten the idea that these houses are going to be sold for enormous prices and people are going to be put out. That’s not going to happen.”
The community between Nora and Dante, so small it does not appear on the Virginia highway map, is to be auctioned off starting at 10:30 a.m. Dickenson said the auction is absolute, meaning every house will be sold, no matter how low the bids.
The Bird heirs gave residents a chance to buy their homes before the auction, and about 15 houses were sold.
From the July 4, 1986 edition of the Daily Press, Newport News, VA…
SOME LOSE BIDS TO BUY HOMES IN AUCTION OF COAL-MINING TOWN
TRAMMEL (AP) — A perspiring auctioneer sold houses in groups of two, three, and four Saturday until he found buyers for the entire coal-mining town that Clady Johnson has called home for 29 years.
Mrs. Johnson’s house went to an Alexandra man for $4,000. The same bidder bought her mother’s and son’s homes, on both sides of Mrs. Johnson’s for $7,500 combined.
Other residents were luckier, successfully bidding for their run-down row houses through the newly-formed Trammel Homeowners Association.
“I just felt like my world was ending,” Mrs. Johnson, 46, said after she lost her house in the first sale of the day.
Trammel, a coal camp wedged between mountains on Route 63 in Dickenson County, was sold to settle the estate of M. S. Bird. It has been more than half a century since Bird bought the coal camp, formerly owned by Virginia Banner Coal Co.
John Botkin, chairman of the Trammel Homeowners Association, said the organization placed the highest bids on all but three of the 27 hours it wanted.
The Trammel Homeowners Association had posted a banner saying “Please Don’t Bid on Our HOMES” on a lot beside Trammel Baptist Church, where the auction was held.
Three-hundred people crowded in and around the tent set up by auctioneers, and about 100 people registered to bid. Many of the 57 houses put up for sale lack indoor plumbing. Twenty-five of the houses were vacant.
Residents formed the Trammel Homeowners Association when they learned June 27 that the community would be sold. The organization has had bake sales, gospel music concerts, car washes, rabbles, and other fundraising activities to help the tenants buy their houses.
Many residents of Trammel live on welfare, black-lung benefits, and part-time jobs because the coal-based economy has been struggling the last several years.
The Trammel Homeowners Association had raised about $30,000 by Friday to put 10 percent down payments on the homes of families needing assistance to buy them, said Lois Rose, secretary of the group.
Botkin estimated the group would need to raise $40,000 more to finish paying for the houses by the Aug. 12 deadline. The group plans to sell houses to residents as they can afford to pay for them and use the money to make improvements in the town, he said.
About 30 association members gathered outside the tent to discuss strategy before the auction began. The men and women wore bits of green crepe paper to show their solidarity.
Linda Johnson of Grace House, an Episcopal education center in Sandy Ridge which was advising the tenants, said Auctioneer Dickenson would not announce to the crowd which homes the organization wanted to buy.
“But he said people of the association – if they begin with a reasonable bid – can say the Trammel Homeowners Association begins the bid at $500 or $1,000,” she said. “If you speak loudly enough, everybody there will know the association wants that house.”
Clady Johnson, a divorcee whose only income comes from a $207 welfare check, followed Linda Johnson’s instructions when she announced her $500 bid. But the offers rose quickly from there until Homer Kiser of Alexandria bought the first two houses auctioned for $4,000 apiece. He then purchased a third house, rented by Clady Johnson’s son, for $3,500.
Kiser, 43, who grew up in the Trammel area, said he did not plan to run any tenants out. He said he expected to fix the homes up and rent them for what the tenants were paying – about $75 a month.
From the August 14, 1986 edition of the Daily Press, Newport News, VA…
GROUP OWNS HOMES
TRAMMEL (AP) — The Trammel Homeowners Association has earned its name at last.
About two months after residents formed the group because their tiny coal community was gong to be sold at auction, townspeople own their homes.
“Spirits are running pretty high around here,” said Delores Rose, secretary of the Trammel Homeowners Association. “Everyone’s pretty thrilled to be living in the own houses.”
Trammel, an old coal camp on Virginia 63 in Dickenson County, was sold by the heirs of M. S. Bird, who had bought the camp about 50 years ago from Virginia Banner Coal Co. Residents have been renting their houses from the estate.
When the town was sold at an auction July 12, the homeowners group made a commitment to buy 25 houses and paid 10 percent down. Members had until Tuesday to pay the rest of what they owed.
By Tuesday’s deadline, they had raised the $63,000 they needed to pay the remaining 90 percent, Mrs. Rose said. The group also managed to raise $7,500 for two houses that a successful bidder agreed to sell to the organizations.
“Money came in from everywhere,” Mrs. Rose said. “We got contributions from people in Texas, California, Missouri…all over the United States.”
Church groups donated most of the money, she said.
From the August 29, 1986 edition of the Daily Press, Newport News, VA…
RESIDENTS SEEK HELP
TRAMMEL (AP) — A little over a month after residents of this one-time coal camp bought their homes when the town was sold at auction, they are seeking the help of state officials in moving the town into the 20th century.
The Trammel Homeowners Association met with a delegation of government officials here Wednesday to determine the needs of the people, who bought their homes July 12 after years of renting.
State Secretary of Economic Development, Richard M. Bagley, who led the delegation of state and federal housing officials here, called the effort by Trammel residents to stay in the community “one of the best examples I’ve ever seen of people using their own resources to solve their own problems.” The question now is, “What can we do to help them?”
Trammel residents said they are concerned about getting water and sewer services. Some homes have wells and others get water from a system that may be wearing out.
Neal J. Barber, director of the state Department of Housing and Community Development, told residents they need to make a preliminary engineering survey to determine the water and sewer needs and the cost of meeting them.
From the August 18, 1990 edition of the Daily Press, Newport News, VA…
FORMER MINING CAMP GETS A MODERN LOOK
TRAMMEL, Va. (AP) — Trammel, a castoff coal mining camp, is about to become a modern town, four years after it was bought for $70,000 by its tenants in a highly publicized auction.
Dickenson County officials broke ground for the community’s $1.3 million water and sewer system on Thursday.
“This is a very, very special day,” said Delores Rose, of the Trammel Homeowners Association. “At one point, I did lose faith and give up, but now we have to look toward what we’re going to have.”
The Trammel Homeowners Association was formed soon after residents learned their rented homes would be sold at auction to settle the estate of M. S. Bird, who bought the property from Banner Coal Co. about 50 years ago.
The auction attracted national media attention as the community of two-dozen families held bake sales and yard sales to raise money to buy the 27 homes. Donations came in from organizations in several states.
After the auction, the association continued work to improve the homes, many of which have no indoor plumbing.
Household sewage in Trammel is now dumped intoa nearby creek, and one of the community’s two water sources has been condemned by the Virginia Department of Health.
Six different agencies are providing funding for the project, including the Appalachian Regional Commission, $500,000; and the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development, $700,000.
In addition to months of coordinating the funding package, the project has been redesigned twice, according to R. D. Fletcher, of Thompson & Litton Engineering.
“Just about any delays that could happen have happened to this project,” said Fletcher.
The project’s design began as individual treatment systems for the houses but was later changed to a sewage treatment facility. The VDH rejected the design because of the number of discharge permits into one stream.
During the course of the second phase, impurities increased in a well that serves the system’s water source.
The project was again delayed until the additional treatment needs were resolved.
Construction would have been postponed for several more months, if not for a donation made by the Lambert Land Limited Partnership Co.
The company recently donated about an acre of land for the water tank and sewage facility.
Del. Bud Phillips, D-St. Paul, a guest speaker for the event, said the Trammel project stands as a testimonial to other communities in need of water and sewer systems. “There are many areas of southwest Virginia that need water and sewer, but I tell them not to give up hope, because there are agencies out there to help,” he said.
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FROM THE CVT ARCHIVES — The Trammel post office as it looked in July of 1971. The occasion being celebrated in this photo was “Post Service Day.”
—- TAKING A LOOK AT TRAMMEL —-
Suppose you were looking at an empty shoe box while the person holding it attempted to describe the shoes it once held. Maybe they were of the finiest quality, but were they COMFORTABLE? Did they FIT? The same is true of the photos of Trammel included in this article. A photo of an empty house reveals little of the lives of those who once lived there. Ponder the lives of Trammel residents and consider the value of neighbors who shared the unique culture of coal mining in Southwest Virginia.
HISTORIC AMERICAN BUILDINGS SURVEY from the LIBRARY OF CONGRESS *
“The camp was beautiful when I came here, all painted and new.” Mrs. Lillie Mae Phillips, upon her arrival in 1919. Trammel Mining Camp was established in 1917, one of many such settlements created to support increasing coal production throughout southern Appalachia.
Built by the Virginia Banner Coal Corporation, Trammel is important as a rare survival of an early mining camp in Virginia. The mine workers were divided almost equally among local residents whose farms were sold to mining corporations, immigrants from southern Europe, and Southern African Americans. Trammel consists of approximately 100 company houses divided into four sections: Upper Camp, Middle Camp, Main Camp, and Lower Camp.
The nine houses documented in Middle Camp are essentially representative of those found throughout the camp. Though Trammel was segregated, all miners lived in virtually identical frame, one-story, three- or four-room houses built along the narrow valley floor, “not much more than a crevice in the earth” (Eller 1982:183). Households were heated by central coal-fired stoves and were lighted by single light bulbs in every room. Each group of three households shared a single privy; none had running water.
Before the mines closed, the Trammel community included the company president’s house, a company store with a post office, a Baptist church, and a schoolhouse. On July 12, 1986, the town of Trammel and some 50 houses and lots were sold at auction. Middle Camp has since been abandoned, and only the church and some houses in the other parts of Trammel remain occupied.
Survey number: HABS VA-1344
1. VIEW OF MAIN CAMP, LOOKING EAST, COMPANY STORE AND PRESIDENT’S HOUSE IN FOREGROUND – Trammel Middle Camp, Trammel, Dickenson County, VA Photos from Survey HABS VA-1344
2. VIEW OF MIDDLE CAMP, LOOKING NORTHWEST, TYPE C HOUSE NO. 6 IN FOREGROUND – Trammel Middle Camp, Trammel, Dickenson County, VA Photos from Survey HABS VA-1344
3. VIEW OF MIDDLE CAMP LOOKING WEST; TYPE C HOUSE NO. 6 IN FOREGROUND – Trammel Middle Camp, Trammel, Dickenson County, VA Photos from Survey HABS VA-1344
4. BRIDGE HOUSES NOS. 1-3, LOOKING NORTHWEST – Trammel Middle Camp, Trammel, Dickenson County, VA Photos from Survey HABS VA-1344
5. BRIDGE HOUSES NOS. 2 AND 3, LOOKING NORTHWEST – Trammel Middle Camp, Trammel, Dickenson County, VA Photos from Survey HABS VA-1344
6. TYPE C HOUSES NOS. 2-4, LOOKING NORTH – Trammel Middle Camp, Trammel, Dickenson County, VA Photos from Survey HABS VA-1344
7. MIDDLE CAMP BUILDING NO. 5, LOOKING SOUTH. BUILDING WAS MOVED TO ITS PRESENT LOCATION 1994. – Trammel Middle Camp, Trammel, Dickenson County, VA Photos from Survey HABS VA-1344
8. MIDDLE CAMP BUILDING NO. 5, LOOKING WEST – Trammel Middle Camp, Trammel, Dickenson County, VA Photos from Survey HABS VA-1344
9. MIDDLE CAMP BUILDING NO. 5, LOOKING NORTHEAST – Trammel Middle Camp, Trammel, Dickenson County, VA Photos from Survey HABS VA-1344
10. BRIDGE HOUSE NO. 3, LOOKING EAST – Trammel Middle Camp, Trammel, Dickenson County, VA Photos from Survey HABS VA-1344
11. BRIDGE HOUSE NO. 3, LOOKING NORTHWEST – Trammel Middle Camp, Trammel, Dickenson County, VA Photos from Survey HABS VA-1344
12. BRIDGE HOUSE NO. 2, LOOKING EAST – Trammel Middle Camp, Trammel, Dickenson County, VA Photos from Survey HABS VA-1344
13. RUINS OF BRIDGE HOUSE NO. 1, LOOKING NORTH – Trammel Middle Camp, Trammel, Dickenson County, VA Photos from Survey HABS VA-1344
14. RUINS OF TYPE C HOUSE NO. 1, LOOKING NORTHEAST – Trammel Middle Camp, Trammel, Dickenson County, VA Photos from Survey HABS VA-1344
15. TYPE C HOUSE NO. 2, LOOKING NORTH – Trammel Middle Camp, Trammel, Dickenson County, VA Photos from Survey HABS VA-1344
16. TYPE C HOUSE NO. 2, LOOKING EAST – Trammel Middle Camp, Trammel, Dickenson County, VA Photos from Survey HABS VA-1344
17. TYPE C HOUSE NO. 2, LOOKING WEST – Trammel Middle Camp, Trammel, Dickenson County, VA Photos from Survey HABS VA-1344
18. TYPE C HOUSE NO. 3, LOOKING NORTHEAST (STREET GABLE) – Trammel Middle Camp, Trammel, Dickenson County, VA Photos from Survey HABS VA-1344
19. TYPE C HOUSE NO. 3, LOOKING SOUTH – Trammel Middle Camp, Trammel, Dickenson County, VA Photos from Survey HABS VA-1344
20. TYPE C HOUSE NO. 4 LOOKING NORTHEAST – Trammel Middle Camp, Trammel, Dickenson County, VA Photos from Survey HABS VA-1344
21. INTERIOR BRIDGE HOUSE NO. 3, SOUTHEAST ROOM, LOOKING NORTHWEST TOWARD FIREPLACE WALL – Trammel Middle Camp, Trammel, Dickenson County, VA Photos from Survey HABS VA-1344
22. INTERIOR BRIDGE HOUSE NO. 3, NORTHWEST ROOM, LOOKING SOUTHEAST TOWARD FIREPLACE WALL – Trammel Middle Camp, Trammel, Dickenson County, VA Photos from Survey HABS VA-1344
23. COAL GRATE SURROUND, BEDROOM FIREPLACE, TYPE C HOUSE NO. 1, LOOKING EAST – Trammel Middle Camp, Trammel, Dickenson County, VA Photos from Survey HABS VA-1344
24. INTERIOR TYPE C HOUSE NO. 2 BEDROOM, LOOKING NORTHEAST TOWARD FIREPLACE WALL – Trammel Middle Camp, Trammel, Dickenson County, VA Photos from Survey HABS VA-1344
25. INTERIOR TYPE C HOUSE NO. 2 DINING ROOM, LOOKING SOUTHWEST TOWARD FIREPLACE WALL – Trammel Middle Camp, Trammel, Dickenson County, VA Photos from Survey HABS VA-1344
26. INTERIOR TYPE C HOUSE NO. 2 KITCHEN, LOOKING SOUTH – Trammel Middle Camp, Trammel, Dickenson County, VA Photos from Survey HABS VA-1344
27. INTERIOR TYPE C HOUSE NO. 3 BEDROOM, LOOKING NORTHEAST TOWARD FIREPLACE WALL – Trammel Middle Camp, Trammel, Dickenson County, VA Photos from Survey HABS VA-1344
28. INTERIOR TYPE C HOUSE NO. 3 DINING ROOM, LOOKING SOUTHWEST TOWARD FIREPLACE WALL – Trammel Middle Camp, Trammel, Dickenson County, VA Photos from Survey HABS VA-1344
29. INTERIOR TYPE C HOUSE NO. 3 DINING ROOM, DETAIL OF FIREPLACE WALL – Trammel Middle Camp, Trammel, Dickenson County, VA Photos from Survey HABS VA-1344
30. INTERIOR TYPE C HOUSE NO. 3 KITCHEN, LOOKING SOUTH – Trammel Middle Camp, Trammel, Dickenson County, VA Photos from Survey HABS VA-1344
31. PRIVY BEHIND TYPE C HOUSE NO. 2, LOOKING EAST – Trammel Middle Camp, Trammel, Dickenson County, VA Photos from Survey HABS VA-1344
32. PRIVY BEHIND TYPE C HOUSE NO. 3, LOOKING NORTHWEST – Trammel Middle Camp, Trammel, Dickenson County, VA Photos from Survey HABS VA-1344
33. Photocopy of Clintwood 15-minute topographic quadrangle, with current site of Trammel Middle Camp highlighted (U.S. Geological Survey 1915) – Trammel Middle Camp, Trammel, Dickenson County, VA Photos from Survey HABS VA-1344
34. Photocopy of plat titled ‘Subdivision of Trammel’ (Dickenson County, Plat Cabinet 1, Slide 22, pp. 317-318) – Trammel Middle Camp, Trammel, Dickenson County, VA Photos from Survey HABS VA-1344
35. Photocopy of plat of Main Camp area of Trammel in 1928 (Dickenson County, Deed Book 57, p. 148) – Trammel Middle Camp, Trammel, Dickenson County, VA Photos from Survey HABS VA-1344
Trammel Middle Camp, Type “C” House No. 3, Trammel, Dickenson County, VA
Trammel Middle Camp, Bridge House No. 3, Trammel, Dickenson County, VA
CREDITS
“Documentation of Middle Camp in Trammel Mining Camp was undertaken by the William and Mary Center for Archaeological Research (WMCAR) in 1994-1995 under the direction of Donald W. Linebaugh, Co-Director,. Anne S. Beckett served as architectural historian, and Charles M. Downing conducted the historical research. In anticipation of the Route 63 reconstruction project, documentation was undertake for the Federal Highway Administration (FHA) and the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) Bristol District Office.”
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE HISTORY OF TRAMMEL AT: https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/master/pnp/habshaer/va/va1700/va1754/data/va1754data.pdf