Pence Springs, West Virginia facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Pence Springs, West Virginia
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A CSX freight train passes through Pence Springs in 2007.
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 Pence Springs, West Virginia
Location in West Virginia
Pence Springs, West Virginia
Location in the United States
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| Country | United States |
| State | West Virginia |
| County | Summers |
| Elevation | 1,539 ft (469 m) |
| Time zone | UTC-5 (Eastern (EST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (EDT) |
| Area code(s) | 304 & 681 |
| GNIS feature ID | 1555323 |
Pence Springs is an unincorporated community in Summers County, West Virginia, United States. It lies along the Greenbrier River to the east of the city of Hinton, the county seat of Summers County. Its elevation is 1,539 feet (469 m), and it is located at 37°40′41″N 80°43′30″W / 37.67806°N 80.72500°W (37.6781762, -80.7250808). It had a post office with the ZIP code 24962 until it was closed in October 2011.
Once a hot spot for travelers, Pence Springs is now a quiet community home to a large flea market, which is held in the area that was once used as the bottling facility by Andrew Pence. The water that flows from the spring won awards at the St Louis Expo in 1904. In 1918, Pence built a three-story brick hotel above the spring. It attracted tourists and those wishing to visit the spring. The hotel was used as a state women's prison through the fifties, sixties and seventies. The old resort is currently being occupied by the Greenbrier Academy for Girls. The Pence Springs Hotel Historic District is a national historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.
Throughout the years several other hotels/hostels and boarding homes were built, none of which stand any longer. Across the Greenbrier River was the stock yards and the train station combination, that used to be as busy as nearby Hinton. Train service stopped in 1952.
There is a small grass landing strip known as the Hinton-Alderson Airport.
Early history
Like most of the surrounding territories, the earliest inhabitants were the mound builders, the Indians after the settlement of Jamestown by Captain John Smith, the Europeans who immigrated into what is now Summers County.
The first known white person to have settled in what is now Pence Springs was William Kincaid. The land on which he settled was later known as the Jesse Beard Plantation. On this land was the celebrated Pence Springs, then known only as a buffalo lick and called Buffalo Springs. For more than one hundred years it was a prime hunting destination for buffalo, elk and deer. In 1800 William Kincaid moved on west, leaving no trace of known decedents.
Early Settlers
As stated above, the earliest known settler of Pence Springs was William Kincaid, and there are no records to show who else may have settled there at the same time. Therefore, we have to use a land plantation grant to Colonel James Graham in 1758. Colonel Graham settled at Lowell, WV. One of his daughters Jane married David Jarrett and settled at buffalo Spring on land later known as the Mazi farm. A grandson of Colonel Graham settled on land which later became known as the Haynes place and a portion of it known first as the Nowlan and later the Tolley Place.
Jesse Beard, a native of Pocahontas County, owned a large tract of land in what is now Pence Springs. It was called the Beard Plantation which contained the famous spring. Beard died at about the close of the Civil war and is buried in the Beard/Nash Cemetery located behind the Buffalo School House. His lands were divided among his five children. A daughter Sarah who married Charles R. Hines, a native of Monroe County build a dwelling on the property she inherited from her father, this dwelling later became known as the Hines Boarding House.
James Madison Haynes, another native of Monroe County, moved to Greenbrier County in 1840. He then purchased the Samuel Graham property, located five miles (8 km) below Alderson on the Greenbrier River. This section of the property later became known as the Haynes Ferry. James Haynes died in 1858, leaving six children, his son William Haynes was elected a member of the state senate in 1871.
John Nowlan and Florance Graham Nowlan settled on Hungrets Creek in 1835. They were the grandparents of Mr. M.C. Nowlan of Pence Springs know to all as simply "Mac". His son Joseph Nowlan married Mary Keeny of Kanawha County in 1865. They purchased a part of the land owned by James M. Haynes. On this large tract of land, they constructed a large brick dwelling. The Nowlan's were very influential in the development of the community. In 1890 John was a republican candidate for commission of Summers County, in 1892 for sheriff. His son John Jr. Nowlan was the first postmaster of Pence Springs, at the time called Stock Yards.
Pence Springs owes its present name to Andrew P. Pence, a native of Monroe County, was the grandson of Elizabeth Graham. Pence purchased the property containing the spring, some two hundred and 80 acres (320,000 m2) from the heirs of Jesse Beard. Through Pence's efforts, the old spring became one of the most famous places in the state of West Virginia and later recognized throughout the nation when its water won the silver medal at the Worlds Fair in St. Lewis in 1904. Mr. Pence Built a large hotel which could not accommodate all the guests so other smaller hotels were built, one of these was the Lahey Boarding House.
The Pence Springs Hotel Burned in the early 1900s and the Pence Springs Company, consisting of Andrew Pence and Mr T. Davis built the Pence Springs Hotel which still stands today. This structure was used for the State Prison for Women from the 1940s to the 1980s.
Early education
The first school was called The Mays School and was located in the vicinity of Valley Heights above the spring. There was the Kellan School, located near Lowell on the south side of the river. The Buffalo School was the next to be established; the original building was recently renovated in 2008 and stands below the Beard Nash Cemetery. Later came the Bush school. In the early 1900s these three schools were consolidated into the Pence Springs School; it was located on Route 3 in Pence Springs. It burned in 1941; following the fire school was held in the Lahey Boarding House until the new brick structure was completed in 1942 on the same site. The building still stands today.
