| The Spirit of Christmas in Bramwell
By Betty Rivard
One of the finest places you’ll find to experience the true spirit of Christmas is Bramwell, West Virginia. Located in Mercer County near the border of Virginia, this little town is at once sheltered, in the beautiful valley of the Bluestone River, and accessible, just off of Route 52 and less than half an hour from Bluefield, West Virginia.
Bramwell grew out of the coal boom days of the late nineteenth century. West Virginia’s Pocahontas coalfields first began shipping out coal in 1884. Four coal camps were developed, with Bramwell as the business center. Each of the coal camps had its own mines, housing, company stores, and churches. All were included in the town of Bramwell, which was established in 1888.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, a large number of majestic houses were built in Bramwell by the coal barons and business and professional people. Nearly a century later, in 1984, Bramwell was named to the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior.
 The annual Bramwell Christmas Home Tour, which is held on the second Saturday of December, celebrates the noncommercial spirit of the season. The community comes together to share its history and hospitality with a steady stream of visitors. There is nothing to buy except the admission for the tour, a wonderful home-cooked buffet dinner at the one restaurant in town or snacks from a food stand, or perhaps a small treasure from one of the few local shops. The focus is on taking in the atmosphere created on the streets and in the homes and other buildings, and on enjoying the company of the hosts and hostesses and the other guests.
Betty Goins, who grew up near the Cooper coal camp, coordinates the Christmas Home Tour and also leads group tours throughout the year. The holiday event, which has taken place every year since 1983, requires the work of many volunteers. Through their efforts, Bramwell is "transformed into magic," Goins says. "I enjoy being able to step away from the everyday world and go back to childhood, with the music and the lights," she adds. "It feels good to have folks come and visit and share in the excitement."
 I arrived early and began the holiday tour with a visit to the Coal Heritage Trail Interpretive Center, located in a replica of the town’s original train depot. The center includes a gift shop and the Nick J. Rahall Coal Heritage Interpretive Center Museum. Outside are vintage train cars and interpretive signs that tell visitors about the history of the area.
Inside the center are wonderful black-and-white photographs of Bramwell’s buildings and homes that were taken by Jack Boucher in 1992 as part of the Historic American Buildings Survey. Displayed in the museum are large color photographs by Bluefield photographer Melvin Grubb that show current mining venues and practices. A large number of artifacts tell the story of Bramwell and its people. These include school souvenirs and trophies, historic posters and photographs, and remnants of daily life in the mines, on the railroads, and in the coal camps.
Two of the highlights in the museum are a 1940s and ’50s-era, small-scale model diorama of the Bluefield train station and surroundings, and a 1936 panoramic portrait, taken outside the original Bramwell depot, of United Mine Workers of America miners and their families. The photograph seems to evidence the fact that miners worked closely together in the mines and the union, regardless of their differences in race and ethnicity. It also captured many intriguing details and left me with many questions. Who were these people, I wondered, and how did they live? Why are so many of them wearing suits and ties? Why are there several guitars neatly propped up on the right and a young cow on a lead rope on the left?
 As I left the Interpretive Center, volunteers were just setting out cookies and coffee, while a musician played songs on a keyboard. I walked to the other end of the block, where a small group of children, The Millionaire Singers, were singing Christmas carols on the corner. They were led by Bramwell’s mayor, Louise Dawson Stoker, and accompanied by Santa Claus and a Christmas elf.
As day turned to dusk, members of the Bramwell Volunteer Fire Department lit luminaries that lined the sidewalks. More people arrived for the tour and purchased their tickets at the historic, stone Presbyterian Church. Houses and other buildings were lit up with twinkling lights.
At Bryant’s Pharmacy, which opened in 1910, a couple spoke with visitors about the history of the drug store and their plans to restore its original built-in furnishings. At the Masonic Temple across the street, visitors were invited to go upstairs to see the large meeting room, with its platform flanked by elegant chairs and symbols associated with the organization. At the Bank of Bramwell, staff members gave away calendars, talked about their building and its history, and allowed visitors to walk through the stately rooms and offices, which feature beautiful wood paneling and carvings.
From the bank the tour extended down the street toward the Bluestone River, then around the block and back toward the church and the Interpretive Center. Signs indicated venues that were open to the public, as did the line of people going in and out of the front doors. Some residences were decorated but not open to the public.
 The first home I visited was the Perry House, built by the Bank of Bramwell in 1902 and occupied for many years by one of the bank’s first cashiers, J. B. Perry, and his family. The home is now owned by Jim and Joyce Bishop. Until recently, the Bishops operated the home as a bed-and-breakfast. Jim says the people are the best part of participating in the Christmas Tour.
"Some years more than 300 people have come through our home," he says. "Many are repeat visitors, and a significant number have been here numerous times." In earlier years guests at the Perry House were greeted with the aroma of Jim’s fresh-baked sourdough bread. Due to popular demand, he is planning to revive this custom.
Each home on the tour had its own unique wonders. One featured a tree full of lights and ornaments in every room and hostesses in period dress who spoke about the home. One young family member proudly welcomed guests and showed them her room, with its own lovely decorations. In another home nearby, a young man—perhaps a family member—played beautiful music on the piano.
At the exquisitely decorated Collins House, built as an investment by early businessman Jairus Collins, musicians played and sang downstairs while current owner Curtis Bishop, Jim Bishop’s brother, quietly welcomed guests in the upstairs hall. Curtis held his little dog on his lap while visitors enjoyed viewing rooms filled with unique antiques.
 For the first 10 years, the Bramwell Christmas Tour was sponsored by the Bramwell Millionaires Garden Club. Back then, guides led small groups of visitors during the afternoon and evening. The tour drew the largest crowd in 1992, when 796 people came. Mayor Louise Dawson Stoker says she had to take her private store of cookies out of the freezer to help serve all of the visitors. The Bramwell Theatre Corporation later took over the event and changed it to a self-guided tour.
While the Christmas Tour is the town’s most celebrated event, there is much to see in Bramwell any time of year. Private tours, arranged at the town hall, can include side trips to places like the exhibition mine in neighboring Pocahontas, Virginia. The Interpretive Center is open every day except Christmas and brochures for self-guided walking tours are available.
Stoker emphasizes that Bramwell is a wonderful place to walk. She gives presentations on the architecture of the town and has coined the term the "Architechtionary" of Bramwell from A to Z: A is for the archway at the Bramwell Theatre and Z is for the zodiac sign featured on a tile on a porch at the Thomas House. In my experience, townspeople enjoy talking with visitors and will sometimes even show them their homes.
If you get hungry after strolling through town, you can stop in at the Bramwell Café for a wonderful home-cooked meal (call 304-248-7414 for hours). Lodging options in Bramwell include the Bank of Bramwell, the Bluestone Inn, Main Street Suites, Pamela’s Bed and Breakfast, and Sugar Hill Bed and Breakfast.
 The town’s latest attraction, the new Mercer County trailhead for the Hatfield and McCoy ATV Trail, is set to open in Spring 2010. There has also been discussion of how to use old rail beds for rail excursions.
Other regularly scheduled events in Bramwell include the popular Ghost Walk, a haunted house, and an Oktoberfest; a Christmas Parade; the Spring Home Tour; Smoke on the Mountain, a gospel comedy; and many concerts and other programs.
In planning celebrations, Bramwell citizens also spend a lot of time mining their own history. One of the newer events honors Anne Spencer, an acclaimed African American poet with roots in Bramwell. A footbridge across the Bluestone River is named in her memory.
Today Bramwell is largely a retirement community, says Betty Goins. People there want to preserve their town’s ethnic heritage and historical integrity, from the millionaires and their mansions in the heart of town to the workers and their families in the coal camp communities. In Cooper, a short drive up the road, you’ll find the African American Mill Creek Missionary Baptist Church, which last year celebrated its 127th homecoming. You can also see the hayfield where the New York Yankees once stopped in to play the local coalfield team.
 Bramwell is a quiet and peaceful place, says Goins, where you can still "sit on your front porch and watch a heron fly by."
"We really have it made," she adds.
This year, the Christmas Home Tour will be held December 12 from 5:00 to 8:00 PM. For more information about Bramwell and its environs and the Christmas Tour, call the town hall at 304.248.7114.
Betty Rivard is a fine art landscape photographer who lives in rural Braxton County. Her photographs have been featured in previous issues of Wonderful West Virginia. Contact her by e-mail at
bettyrivard@yahoo.com or visit http://www.bettyrivard.com.
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Pinnacle Rock State Park
