A “Boring” Revelation in West Virginia

A couple of interesting small towns south and west of Charleston, West Virginia caught my attention for this month. A note intrigued me in my collection from the Oil Field National Bank of Griffithsville, W.Va. I had no idea that West Virginia had been an oil producer, and decided that would be a worthwhile basis for one of these articles. So let’s journey to the Mountaineer State and check out not only Griffithsville, but also nearby St. Albans.

We will start with St. Albans, a city of 12,000 located in Kanawha County, W.Va, at the confluence of the Kanawha and Coal Rivers. It is easily reached via Interstate 64 and US Route 60, west of Charleston, the state capital. I learned that St. Albans was not really involved with West Virginia’s short-lived oil boom, but it was on the way to Griffithsville.

Fort Tackett once stood near St. Albans. Ft. Tackett was built in 1786 on land that originally