Bramwell West Virginia
“Home of the Millionaires”
Town of Bramwell WV
The town of Bramwell is located in Mercer County, West Virginia and gains its notoriety as a town of wealth, with more millionaires per capita than anywhere in the country. In the 1880s Bramwell was settled by wealthy coal operators that mined the nearby Pocahontas Coal Fields. They built luxury mansions with ballrooms and full-size homes as playhouses for their kids. As a visitor to Bramwell, you can explore and get a look inside Millionaire Row as its called, during the spring and Christmas tours.
Bramwell is also located just nearby an access point to the Pocahontas Trail system, a component of the Hatfield-McCoy famous ATV trails. The Hatfield-McCoy trails include over 700 miles of primitive roads typically utilized by dirt bikes and All-Terrain Vehicles. These trails are managed by the Hatfield-McCoy Regional Trail Authority.
Bramwell is situated eight miles north of Bluefield, West Virginia, and is 2300 feet above sea level. The Bluestone River surrounds the town in a horseshoe bend fashion, in which “Horshoe Bend”, was also a nickname for the town.
History of Bramwell WV
In the 1880s the region around Bramwell began to prosper as a coal mining center with several coal camps operating in the area. The town of Bramwell was established in 1888, and was named after J.H. Bramwell, a civil engineer. Bramwell’s wealth was supported by the Pocahontas coalfields that extended over 40 miles, which employed 100,000 miners. The Norfolk & Western railroad had 14 trains a day stopping in Bramwell to load up the coal and to bring passengers and mercantile goods to the wealthy.
By 1895 there were thirty-eight mines in the Flat Top field. Bramwell quickly became the center of commerce and finance for the coal mines in the Flat Top field. The Bank of Bramwell was formed in 1889 by James Mann and his cousin, I.T. Mann.
On January 7, 1910, part of the downtown area was destroyed by a major fire. Twenty-one buildings were burned to the ground. In 1984, the town was named to the National Register of Historic Places by the U.S. Department of the Interior. Many of the houses are early 20th century in design. There is a museum largely devoted to the local coal and train history of the area.
