Page-Vawter House

Infobox_nrhp | name =Page-Vawter House
nrhp_type =


caption =
location= Ansted, West Virginia
lat_degrees = 38
lat_minutes = 8
lat_seconds = 13
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 81
long_minutes = 6
long_seconds = 6
long_direction = W
locmapin = West Virginia
area =
built =1890
architect= Minter,William
architecture= Gothic
added = August 21, 1985
governing_body = Private
refnum=85001813cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2008-04-15|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service]

Page-Vawter House in the town of Ansted in Fayette County, West Virginia was built in 1889-90 by company carpenters of the Gauley Mountain Coal Company for the family of William Nelson Page, who was company president. The palatial white Victorian mansion is located on a knoll in the middle of town. William and Emma (née Gilham) Page raised their four children there, attended by a staff of 8 servants.

Architect William Minter designed the house in a Gothic style. It has 15 regular rooms, plus a butler's pantry and a dressing room. There are 11 fireplaces with hand-carved wooden mantels; most are in different styles. Even the doors have ornately decorated hinges. [ http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/624294/historic_ansted_house_goes_on_the_market/index.html ] The exterior features 52 8-foot-tall windows built by company carpenters on a knoll in the middle of town. [ http://www.statejournal.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=38468 ] According to author and railroad historian H. Reid in his book "The Virginian Railway" (Kalmbach, 1961), it was in this mansion that Page developed the plans for the coal-hauling Virginian Railway, which was financed by industrialist Henry Huddleston Rogers and became the "Richest Little Railroad in the World" after its completion in 1909. The nearby railroad town of Page was named for him.

The mansion was later occupied by several generation of the Vawter family. In the 21st century, it still stands as evidence of the once-thriving coal business.

The Page-Vawter House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. [ http://www.nr.nps.gov/ ]

ee also

*Hawk's Nest
*Midland Trail

References

External links

* [http://www.wvculture.org/history/reposits_not_wv/n_carolina.html Special Collection William Nelson Page Papers, Duke University] NOTE: this Gift of Mary Josephine Page in 1952 may have been moved to UNC-Chapel Hill
* [http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/p/Page,William_Nelson.html Special Collection William Nelson Page Papers, Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]
* [http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/w9/william_n_page.htm US Dept. of the Navy, Naval Historical Center]
* [http://www.newrivercvb.com/ansted/ New River CVB Guide to Ansted, WV]
* [http://www.hawksnestsp.com/ Hawk's Nest State Park]
* [http://www.wvculture.org/goldenseal/jordan.html Biographical item on William Jordan, an African-American photographer that includes the Gauley Mountain Coal Company startup time frame and information on Ansted WV circa 1889-1909]
* [http://www.statejournal.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=38468 Article published May 12, 2008 in the "State-Journal" about the new owners]