August 27, 2025 -- Thomas is a former coal mining town in Tucker County, West Virginia. Elevation 3,035 feet. It is located on the North Fork of the Black River. After visiting nearby Blackwater Falls (in Davis), Ty and I ventured to Thomas to see some more waterfalls (and some other stuff).
The first thing of interest we saw was a two story red brick (office) building. It had served as the headquarters for the Davis Coal and Coke Company from 1900 to 1950. It was later used by the Western Maryland Railroad until it was closed in 1982. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2011. It didn't look like there was anything inside.
Historic office building
To reach the waterfalls, we had to travel road, full of potholes. Along the way, there were remnants of the Davis WV coke ovens. These historic beehive coke ovens were used to process the region's low sulfur coal for steel production. The cook ovens became obsolete and abandoned around 1915.
Remnants of old coke ovens
Albert Falls is the first in a series of waterfalls on the North Fork of the Black River. It was close tot he road. It's the only one of the waterfalls I got a good look at and was able to take relatively unobstructed pictures of. I wanted to take Ty down to the water, but I thought it was best not to. The path was iffy and we were by ourselves. Not another soul around.
Albert Falls
Pony Bridge
After crossing the pony bridge (iffy), I parked the car. There was a large parking area. Another vehicle was there. Ty and I started hiking. Douglas Falls was mostly obstructed by tree branches. I couldn't get any decent pictures. It would have been nice to go down to the bank of the falls, but for the same reason as before, we didn't.
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