Tams, Raleigh County
Construction Date: 1921
Threat: Maintenance; Funding; Reversion Clause

2021 Update: PAWV is in the process of nominating the building to the National Register of Historic Places.

2017 Update: No updates have been made available to PAWV in 2017.
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As of the last update provided to PAWV in 2016, no further preservation action has been taken by the church congregation. Despite the lack of preservation progress, the church continues to receive routine maintenance, and the congregation is in the process of setting up a social-media based fundraiser.

2016: The New Salem Baptist Church is the only building that remains in the coal camp in Tams.  A racially segregated community, Tams was divided into Colored Town, American Town, and Immigrant Town. This congregation consisted of black miners and their families, who resided in the northern section of Tams. The Gothic Revival church was built in 1921 after the board of trustees of the congregation approached W. P. Tams, Jr., who owned the company town, requesting that a church be built for them. Tams obliged and provided the funding for the construction of the church. The congregation was able to repay Tams in 1928 and received a clear title to the property.  However, a reversion clause in the deed apparently states that the parcel will revert to ownership by the present Western Pocahontas Land Company should it cease to be used as a house of worship. 

The church reached its peak during the 1930s, serving 350 members. Once Tams sold his mine in 1955, the community emptied with the eventual closure of the mine, and the town began to decay. Outside coal companies bought many of the buildings and removed them from the community. The last residents of the community of Tams left in the 1980s, and every structure in the black camp of Tams has now disappeared, with the exception of the New Salem Baptist Church.

For over 90 years, there has been an active congregation at the church, and its goal is to continue holding services in the community that many of the congregation once called home.  With a congregation of about 10 members, maintenance is the chief issue for the church, as is maintaining the property as a church for the long-term.  The congregation and all other engaged parties agree the church should be preserved perpetually as a monument to the communities that once populated the Winding Gulf and as a memorial to the former black community of which the church is the sole remnant.  The congregation continues to accept donations to maintain the church, which has become a popular tourist attraction to those riding the ATV trails throughout the Winding Gulf.

Beckley, Raleigh County
Construction Date: 1900—1945
Threat: Loss of Historic Integrity

2017 Update: No updates have been made available to PAWV in 2017.

As of the site’s last update in 2016, three historic buildings on Neville Street were deemed by an engineer to be in imminent danger of collapse.  As a result, in June 2016, the buildings were demolished at the authorization of the City of Beckley - despite the hopes of the Beckley Historic Landmark Commission that the buildings could be saved.  This is most unfortunate, as the loss of these buildings increases concerns that the district could lose its listing on the National Register of Historic Places. If the district were de-listed, property owners there would no longer qualify for state development grants and tax credits for continued historic preservation efforts.
 
Unfortunately, two other notable buildings, the former Beckley Newspaper Buildings on Prince Street, were also deemed hazardous; as of May 2016, the City of Beckley is planning demolition. The 1950s structures, which were too young to qualify for listing when the Beckley Courthouse Square National Historic District was originally created, were determined non-contributing at the time.   However, they now exceed the 50-year age threshold, and the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) believes the buildings may be architecturally significant and that they would be eligible to be listed on the NRHP as part of the historic district.  Thus far, the City of Beckley has not followed through on the process of determining whether these buildings are National Register-eligible.

2015: Beckley Courthouse Square Historic District, encompasses approximately eight city blocks surrounding the county courthouse, including the main streets of Neville, Main, Prince and Heber. The district’s private commercial buildings were constructed using local sandstone and brick with simple architectural detail, and the public buildings (e.g. banks, churches, government buildings) were constructed using local sandstone, brick and limestone, with heavy architectural details and more classical designs.

Since receiving its National Register designation in 1994, more than 20 of the 100 contributing properties have been demolished and another 20 have been remodeled without concern for the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties. Additional contributing properties are currently threatened by demolition. Because of the loss of historic integrity, the West Virginia State Historic Preservation Office has warned that the Beckley Courthouse Square Historic District is in danger of being removed from the National Register of Historic Places.
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In an effort to maintain the district’s status on the National Register of Historic Places, the nominator, a member of the Raleigh County Historic Landmark Commission hopes to educate stakeholders regarding the value of the district, provide training to the Beckley Historic Landmark Commission to assist in their efforts to manage the district, and provide technical assistance to historic property owners within the Beckley Courthouse Square Historic District.