Thurmond, West Virginia was built as a railroad town along the New River at a junction for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad. First settled in the 1870's and growing as more trains came in, the founder of the town, William Thurmond, tried to keep the town clean and upright. However in the early 1900's, a seedy hotel opened up just across the river, and their "anything goes" attitude gave Thurmond a notorious reputation of treachery and murder.

The town began dying in the 1930's but never became truly abandoned. Even today, 5 people still call Thurmond their home. Thurmond is also located within one of America's newest National Parks - so new that it wasn't even a park yet when we shot this.

Trains still pass through the town and we got to see some incredibly long consists roll through, then we went up to do a bit of urban exploration in the abandoned houses behind the main commercial row.