Winifrede is an unincorporated community in Kanawha County, West Virginia, United States. Winifrede is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) southwest of Chesapeake. Winifrede has a post office with ZIP code 25214.[2] It is home of the Big Eagle Railroad (formerly known as Winifrede Mining and Manufacturing Company, Winifrede Collieries, and Winifrede Railroad), one of the oldest short-line railroad operations in the United States, having been in existence since 1850.[3] The Winifrede Railroad was incorporated in November 1881 and opened in 1882; the original operation was closed in 1988 and reopened as the Big Eagle Railroad in 2000–01.
According to tradition, the community was named after a woman in Philadelphia.[4]
References
- ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Winifrede, West Virginia
- ^ ZIP Code Lookup
- ^ "Short Line: Winifrede Railroad - Big Eagle Railroad Est. 1850". Retrieved October 31, 2010.
- ^ Kenny, Hamill (1945). West Virginia Place Names: Their Origin and Meaning, Including the Nomenclature of the Streams and Mountains. Piedmont, WV: The Place Name Press. p. 686.
