Hinton WV Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Second Temporary Sinkhole Solution Planned In Summers County

After months of trouble with a sinkhole in Summers County, the West Virginia Division of Highways plans to build a temporary bridge.

DOH crews will build the bridge so traffic can return on state Route 20 in Hinton. The temporary structure will be built beginning Friday, Nov. 18. The process includes attaching several bolts individually.

The bridge will sit above the sinkhole until permanent repairs to a collapsed drainage pipe can be made.

The sinkhole appeared in June in front of the Hinton Police station when a 90-year-old drain under the road failed.

Crews worked over the summer to install a temporary culvert and fill material under the road. This worked until heavy rains from Hurricane Nicole washed out the material on Friday, Nov. 11. This made the sinkhole larger.

Permanent construction plans were also halted after crews found toxic levels of lead on site. The department of highways plans to install a 300-foot steel drainage structure.

Crews from the WVDOH central office in Charleston, District 9, and District 10 will start work this weekend. The 125-foot bridge will be long enough to span the existing hole, even if the hole gets bigger before contractors can replace the collapsed drainage structure.

The detour during construction will be WV 3 (Hinton to Shady Spring), US 19 (Shady Spring to Beaver), WV 307 (Beaver to Airport Road), Interstate 64 (Airport Road to Sandstone), and WV 20 (Sandstone to Hinton).

While construction plans for a permanent repair have been hampered by the discovery of toxic levels of lead on site, Pack said WVDOH has come up with an alternate plan to fix the sinkhole without endangering the public, contractors or WVDOH work crews.

Pack said the WVDOH intends to complete plans to install a 300-foot steel drainage structure under the area and put a contract out to bid by the end of the year.

Hinton Railroad Days Festival Gears Up For The Weekend

Thousands of visitors are expected to make their way to Summers County in southern West Virginia for the Hinton Railroad Days Festival this weekend.

The four day festival coincides with daily train rides from Huntington to Hinton on the Autumn Colors Express. The trip offers scenic views of the fall colors of the New River Gorge. All four trips are sold out after two years without making the trips because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The event also features live music on two stages, food and local vendors. Music acts include Randy Gilkey, the Lincoln County Cloggers, and the Parachute Brigade.

There will also be a public lecture about the settlement of Summers and Monroe Counties at the McCreery Conference and Event Center on Friday afternoon.

The Hinton Railroad Days Festival is Thursday, Oct. 20 – Sunday, Oct. 23, 2022.

W.Va. State Water Festival Celebrates 50 Years

This year marks the 50^th anniversary for the West Virginia State Water Festival. The festival kicks off this weekend.

The weeklong celebration in Hinton hosts everything from a Little Miss Mermaid Pageant, to fishing tournament, and grand parade. The event wraps up with a rubber ducky race down the New River, sponsored by a small nonprofit working to restore a historic home in Hinton.

Here is the full list of events:

Iconic Company Restores Ghost Murals in Appalachia

Long before website banners, T.V. or radio commercials, and electronic billboards there were murals. Coca-Cola Consolidated is working to restore its faded advertisements, or ghost signs, across Appalachia. Ghost signs are the murals painted on buildings at the turn of the century that are now faded disappearing. One of the largest murals, so far was unveiled last week in Hinton in Summers County. Along with the strong sentimental value to the rural residents, the signs still have a strong marketing value for the global company.

Advertisement in Hinton, W.Va. before …

Advertisement in Hinton, W.Va. during restoration …

A mural artist from from Roanoke, Va. worked had assistants to help restore the mural in Hinton, W.Va.

Advertisement in Hinton, W.Va. after restoration …

The mural in Hinton, W.Va. stands 17 feet tall and 60 feet wide, one of the largest ghost signs restored by Coca-Cola Consolidated. It’s one of thousands of Coca-Cola ads painted at the turn of the century, many of them in the rural south.

Like other towns across Appalachia, Hinton now deals with a drug epidemic, empty store fronts, and a high poverty rate. Some folks in the area hope the restoration, brings revitalization to the town.

This mural was painted around 1916 in Hinton, a railroad town that by 1929 had three national banks, two hospitals, ten wholesale firms and seventy-five retail stores.

“Before there was the world famous sign in New York City in Time Square, there was the sign in Hinton, West Virginia. So you can say that that sign in New York was a rip off of the sign right here in Hinton, West Virginia,” said Lauren Steele, Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs at Coca-Cola Consolidated.

The company has restored about 15 murals across three Appalachian states so far. Some of the locations include:

Rocky Mount, VA
Ronceverte, W.Va.
Concord, N.C.
Hendersonville, N.C.
Roanoke, Va.
Salisbury, NC
North Wilkesboro, N.C.
Mebane, N.C.
Hinton, W.Va.
Ronceverte, W.Va.

Coca-Cola plans to complete ghost sign restorations in the following towns:

Monroe, N.C.
Morgantown, W.Va.
Elkin, N.C.
Eden, N.C.
Mt. Airy, N.C.
Cherryville, N.C.
Nashville, Tenn.
Bristol, Va.
Farmville, Va.
Hendersonville, N.C.
Shelby, N.C.
Charleston, W.Va.
Camden Park (an amusement park in W.Va.)

The company expects the list to continue to grow. The mural artists are taking a break during the height of the summer heat. The next restoration project will start up in early Fall.

Hinton Power Boat Race Brings Participants One Step Closer to National Championship

For the third year in a row, the American Power Boat Association (APBA) hosted its annual Junior North American Championship and Pro Eastern Divisional in Hinton, West Virginia. Boats raced for their chance to participate in a national championship. Participants came from as far away as Georgia and Michigan for the event.

Race scorer Amy Pond is in charge of keeping track of all the finishes, points and recordings. The event itself, the ‘Travis Pond Memorial Regatta,’ was named after her brother who enjoyed the sport and competed in the national championship when he was a child. She says Hinton has been very welcoming to the event.

“This is one of the best races as far as community service that we have,” Pond says, referring to the RVs and radio coverage that was provided. “A lot of times, we’ll just show up in a town and the towns like, ‘oh, there’s race boats on the water,’ and they have no idea.”

Race Director Chris Johnson agreed with Pond’s positive sentiment towards Hinton.

“For one thing, the scenery is beautiful,” Johnson says. “This is a beautiful place to race, right nestled between these mountains, the water is generally perfect.”

On Friday the racers tested their equipment, tweaking for maximum speed. The real excitement, however, began on Saturday morning. People like Pond woke up early to run registration and create a schedule for the day’s events. Racers then attended a driver’s meeting where safety and rules were discussed.

On Friday, racers transported their boats for testing.

At 10:30 a.m., the actual racing began. Dressed in suits of Kevlar cloth, life jackets and orange helmets for safety, about 75 racers drove their personally-designed power boats around a track already planned out around the lake at speeds of over 50 miles-per-hour.

Laura Wheeler, 19, raced with her father. The two are from Michigan and come from a family of racers. Hinton is one of her favorite spots to race. “You can set up a really big course here, which is really nice,” she said. “Everyone here is really friendly. It seems like the town wants us to be here, and that’s always great.”

Matt Dagastiono came from just outside of the Washington, D.C. area. His love of the sport came from his time out on the water. “This is a hobby sport, everybody here is an amateur,” Dagastino said. “And mostly it’s just because of a love of boating that most of us have developed at some point in life.”

At the end of the competition on Sunday, trophies were awarded to the winners and their names were put on to a list for the possibility of competing in the national championship in Moses Lake, Washington.

In August 2016, the national championships will be hosted in Hinton. Racers from all of the 16 APBA districts will come to the Mountain State for their chance at national glory.