| Total population | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| About 1,500 | |||
| Regions with significant populations | |||
| United States | |||
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The Chestnut Ridge people (CRP) are a mixed-race (or tri-racial isolate) community residing just northeast of Philippi, Barbour County in north-central West Virginia. They are often called "Mayles" (from the most common surname — Mayle or Male) or "Guineas" (a pejorative term).[1] Some CRP have identified as Melungeon and attended the Melungeon Unions or joined the Melungeon Heritage Association.[2] Many CRP identify themselves as Native American, or as an Indian-white mixed group.[3]
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The local West Virginia historian Hu Maxwell was bemused by the origin of these people when he studied Barbour County history in the late 1890s:
There is a clan of partly-colored people in Barbour County often called "Guineas", under the erroneous presumption that they are Guinea negroes. They vary in color from white to black, often have blue eyes and straight hair, and they are generally industrious. Their number in Barbour is estimated at one thousand. They have been a puzzle to the investigator; for their origin is not generally known. They are among the earliest settlers of Barbour. Prof. W.W. Male of Grafton, West Virginia, belongs to this clan, and after a thorough investigation, says "They originated from an Englishman named Male who came to America at the outbreak of the Revolution. From that one man have sprung about 700 of the same name, not to speak of the half-breeds." Thus it would seem that the family was only half-black at the beginning, and by the inter-mixtures since, many are now almost white.[4]
The local pejorative term "guinea" was still being used more than a century after these words were written. By the 1860s, many individuals of these mixed-race families had become indistinguishable from Caucasians. Several of the men served in West Virginia regiments during the Civil War. Records in the Barbour County Courthouse indicate that several of them petitioned the courts (successfully) to be declared legally white at this time.[5]
The people of "The Ridge" have traditionally been subject to severe racial discrimination, amounting to ostracism, by the surrounding majority white community. As recently as the late 1950s, a few Philippi businesses still posted notices proclaiming "White Trade Only" directed at the CRP. Although the local public schools were not segregated at this time, truancy laws — which were strictly enforced for white children — were typically neglected with regard to "Ridge people".
If related individuals in the surrounding counties of Harrison and Taylor are included, the CRP probably now number about 1,500, almost all of whom bear one of fewer than a dozen surnames. A 1977 survey of obituaries in The Barbour Democrat showed that 135 of 163 "Ridge people" (83%) were married to people having the last names Mayle, Norris, Croston, Prichard, Collins, Adams, or Kennedy. In 1984, of the 67 Mayles who had listed telephones, all but three lived on "The Ridge."[6]