Durbin

Long before it became a town, the land that is now Durbin was part of a rugged frontier where early settlers faced harsh winters, remote isolation, and the constant challenges of mountain life. The area gained strategic importance during the colonial era and later the Civil War, serving as a fortified outpost and toll point along the Staunton–Parkersburg Turnpike, a critical east-west route through the Alleghenies. Durbin’s transformation accelerated with the arrival of the railroad in the early 20th century, when it became a key junction between the Western Maryland Railway and the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway, a rare point of connection between two major competing lines. This access to transportation and timber turned Durbin into a booming forest-industry hub, complete with mills, tanneries, commercial blocks, and banks that placed it at the center of regional corporate activity. Though the mills and rail operations eventually disappeared, Durbin’s rail heritage lives on through the Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad, and the town remains a gateway to the wilderness landscapes and logging history of the upper Greenbrier Valley.