Fort gay west virginia

Fort Gay is a town in Wayne County, West Virginia, along the Tug Fork and Big Sandy rivers. It has a history dating back to and a population of as of Fort Gay is a small town in West Virginia with a rich history and scenic beauty. Find out how to get there, where to stay, and what to do in this guide by MapQuest. Welcome to the official site of the Town of Fort Gay!

This site is intended to provide you with an overview of our town’s government and the unique opportunities our town has to offer. Fort Gay is a community on the Big Sandy River in Wayne County, named after Fort Gallup across the river in Kentucky. Learn about its history, location, lodging and regional information on this page.

Places to see, ways to wander, and signature experiences. A mix of the charming, modern, and tried and true. Can't-miss spots to dine, drink, and feast. Fort Gay Tourism: Tripadvisor has of Fort Gay Hotels, Attractions, and Restaurants making it your best Fort Gay resource. Text-to-speech Audio. Survey of the Vancouver Land Grant. The official historical marker for Fort Gay. The land that became Fort Gay was utilized for centuries by area tribes for centuries.

By the late 17th century, the Cherokee controlled the area. In , the land was surveyed by John Frye who worked with George Washington as part of the Virginia land survey. In , ten settlers who were working with Charles Vancouver surveyed the land and settled farms in the area where Fort Gay is now located. They settlers cleared the land of trees to facilitate agriculture and support their legal claim to the land in the eyes of Virginia Courts.

Native Americans held a different concept of land use and sovereignty, and some of the area Cherokee responded by taking the settler's horses. The settlers attempted to stay and hold this territory, but by the following April, they had been driven off by the local tribe. The ten men had to travel to the mouth of the Kanawha River, over eighty miles, just to get corn.

John Hanks, one of the travelers, indicated that the nearest fort was probably thirty to forty miles away. During this short period, Fort Gay was known as the Vancouver Settlement. This town would later be the first permanent settlement in what would become Wayne County, West Virginia. The location at the start of the Big Sandy River connected these lands to the market and the ability to travel by water from the Big Sandy to the Ohio River was facilitated by a system of locks and dams system built in This system was the first of its kind in the United States.

This settlement was originally known as Cassville and sometime around it was simultaneously known by that name as well as Fort Gay. The settlement got the nickname, Fort Gay in the midst of the Civil War and before long, the nickname became the official name of the community. There are two theories as to why Fort Gay became the preferred name, the first being that West Virginia already had one community on the eastern side of the state that was known as Cassville.

The second is in relation to the way a local Civil War nurse named Gay had become so closely identified with the small village in the eyes of some Civil War veterans and their families.

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This area was also known for its plentiful farm land with good soil. In , a fire ravaged the small town and destroyed most of the businesses, and while some left the area, others worked to rebuild. The community remains small with an average population of around seven hundred people. With the decline of extraction industries and without the arrival of many new businesses, many residents travel to work in nearby towns.

Fort Gay lost its local school to rural consolidation in and the old Fort Gay High School near this marker has remained empty for decades. However, in December , the Coalfield Development Corporation announced that New Day in Fort Gay has received a grant to restore the old building and transform it into affordable apartment buildings. Colegrove, Andrew. December 30th Accessed April 3rd Accessed February 16th Knollinger, Corey.

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