Nuttallburg was a coal-mining town built by mine owner John Nuttall after he arrived in 1870, found coal, opened two mines, and developed the town to serve the mines and his workers as the C&O Railway was being built through New River Gorge. Between 1870 and 1873, Nuttall bought land, developed the mines, and built Nuttallburg, and after the railway was finished in 1873 he shipped his first coal as the second operator to ship coal from New River Gorge. Nuttallburg prospered from 1873 to 1897, when John Nuttall died and ownership passed to his heirs, and the Nuttall family oversaw operations until 1920. From 1920 to 1928, Henry Ford's Fordson Coal Company leased and operated the mine, modernized it, and increased production dramatically. From 1928 to 1953, the Maryland New River Mining Company operated the mine under the name Dubree No. 4, and from 1954 to 1958 the Margie Coal Company acquired the mine, quickly sold it to the Garnet Coal Company, and Garnet operated it for four years before closing it permanently in 1958. The mine operated for 85 years, features changed over time, and many major surviving structures date from the Henry Ford era of the 1920s. In 1998, the Nuttall estate transferred ownership of the Nuttallburg lands to the National Park Service, and in 2005 Nuttallburg was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.