Creeper Trail

Credits, Links, Resources and Suggested Reading:

1. To read a full account of this story, please pick up a copy of Legends, Stories and Ghostly Tales of Abingdon and Washington County, Virginia by: Donna Akers Warmuth

From Abingdon to Damascus, Virginia, there is a walking trail that follows what was once a railroad. Local legend says that many of the workers were African American convicts, some of whom were beaten to death by sadistic overseers, and buried right where they fell beside the railroad. In 1898, Wilton E. Mingea bought the Virginia-Carolina Railway Company (later bought by the Norfolk and Western Railway), and on February 7, 1900, the first train began its run. It was so slow, however, that it was nicknamed the Virginia Creeper. In 1977, the last train ran and the tracks began coming up and were overgrown with weeds. In 1982, the town of Abingdon acquired 34.3 miles of the old tracks and dedicated a trail. People who walk or ride the trail on bike at night often report seeing ghostly lights or hearing the woeful moans of workers on the railroad. 1