October 1995

Pittsburg Lumber Company Building

This was originally the office and company store for the Pittsburg Lumber Company at Braemar, Tennessee. It's in what is now Hampton. This is now a residence which also serves as a Hostel for hikers on the nearby Appalachian Trail. Inside it still retains the look and feel of a company store and office.

The Pittsburg Lumber Mill was served by the Laurel Fork Railway, a competitor of the ET&WNC, back in the teens and 20s. The standard gauge Laurel Fork ran alongside the ET&WNC narrow gauge from the eastern edge of Elizabethton at the Watauga Extract Plant until the 2 competing railroads parted proximity because of some difficult terrain at the Doe River. Another lumber company, W. M. Ritter Lumber, ran a competing mill on the other side of Hampton at Rittertown. It was served by and on the mainline of the ET&WNC.