In 1934, Randolph County starved. The timber industry collapsed. Coal mines closed, leaving thousands of families stranded in makeshift mountain shacks with nothing to eat but wild greens. So, Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal launched a radical experiment called the Tygart Valley Homesteads. It wasn't charity. They wanted to build a self-sustaining cooperative community from scratch. The federal government bought 2,100 acres of valley land and hired the jobless men to build their own homes. One hundred sixty-five houses, to be exact. Each family got a few acres, a barn, and some livestock. They used salvaged American chestnut wood, killed off by the great blight, to panel the living room walls. It smelled of fresh-cut lumber and wet Appalachian clay.
Eleanor Roosevelt loved this place. She visited the valley constantly, pushing for modern amenities that outraged conservative congressmen. They screamed about indoor plumbing and electricity being luxury items for the rural poor. But she ignored them. She wanted dignity. So, the homesteaders got their porcelain tubs. The community built a massive, T-shaped stone school, a cooperative potato cellar, and a weaving center. Men worked the fields and lumber mills, earning credit hours instead of cash to pay off their mortgages. It was a grinding, high-stakes gamble. Then, World War II changed everything. The government got out of the housing business and sold the homes directly to the occupants. Most of these white-sided houses with their heavy stone chimneys still line Route 219. They are not museum pieces. Families still cook dinner and sleep inside them today.
What Makes Tygart Valley Homesteads Historic District Special:
