| Talcott, West Virginia | |
|---|---|
| — Unincorporated community — | |
|
Talcott, West Virginia
|
|
| Coordinates: | |
| Country | United States |
| State | West Virginia |
| County | Summers |
| Elevation | 1,526 ft (465 m) |
| Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
| ZIP code | 24981 |
| Area code(s) | 304 & 681 |
| GNIS feature ID | 1547876[1] |
Talcott (also Rolinsburgh or Rollinsburg) is an unincorporated community in Summers County, West Virginia, United States.
It lies along West Virginia Route 3 and the Greenbrier River to the east of the city of Hinton, the county seat of Summers County.[2] Its elevation is 1,526 feet (465 m), and it is located at about (37.6506762, -80.7511921).[3] Although it is unincorporated, it has a post office, with the ZIP code of 24981.[4]
Talcott has gained some notoriety for being what many in the area consider to be the home of the John Henry legend. Henry was an African-American railroad worker in the 1800s who supposedly competed in a legendary race with a steam powered drill bit, and won, dying in the process. Historian Louis Chappell traveled to Talcott in the 1920s and interviewed railroad workers who claimed to have worked with Henry when building the Big Bend tunnel on the C&O line through Talcott. The accounts of the surviving workers seemed to corroborate that Henry was, in fact, a real person, although the other aspects to the legend were impossible to confirm or deny based on the interviews conducted by Chappell[5]
The Hilldale-Talcott Ruritan Club raised a statue of Henry atop Big Bend mountain in 1972 to commemorate the legend. Talcott now hosts an annual John Henry Days festival each July that features re-tellings of the famous legend, duck races, craft booths, and other festivities.[6]
|
||||||||||||||||||||