A brief history of Clintwood
In 1882 the county seat was located on McClure River at or near the mouth of Caney Creek and was called Ervinton. The act of the General Assembly relocating the county seat on Holly Creek also designated the name of the new town. Major Henry Clinton Wood of Scott County, Virginia, was an influential member of the Virginia Senate during the session in which the act was passed. He was familary called “Clintwood”. In re-payment for Major Woods valuable advocacy of the proposed change of the county seat, Captian John P. Chase caused the new town to be called Clintwood.
In 1884 the General Assembly incorporated Clintwood as a town, with appropriate officers, but this local governmental unit did not function very long. No records of it’s activities are known to exist, but in 1894, the General Assembly passed an act to reincorporate the town. It embraced all the territory “within the limits of one half mile each way from the courthouse”.
Clintwood is located in the beautiful upland Holly Creek Valley in the western part of Dickenson County and is about six miles from the Kentucky state line.
First settlers of Holly Creek
About 1829, John Mullins came to Holly Creek from Burke County, North Carolina . William Broadwater, a transient hunter, had previously built a pole cabin there but had vacated it and returned to Scott County. John Mullins moved into this abandoned cabin on what is now Main Street. After a short while, he left his fourteen year old daughter Mary and two younger sons to care for his property while he returned to North Carolina to bring back the remainder of his family. Winter set in early and the snow was so deep that Mr. Mullins was unable to return to Holly Creek until the following spring. His three young children lived in the wilderness all this time, with their nearest neighbor at least ten miles away.
John Mullins later brought his aged father, John Mullins Sr., to his mountain home in Holly Creek, where he remained the rest of his life. The elder John Mullins was reputed to have been one of the American heroes at the battle of Kingsport Mountain and is the only known solider of the Revolution to be buried in Dickenson County. The younger John Mullins raised a large family on his new farm. Most of them married and settled in the vicinity of Clintwood. It is said that his sons and sons-in law owned most of the land between Pound and Cranesnest Rivers from Nickels Gap to Georges Fork Mountain.
John P. Chase, a young man from Tennessee, came to Holly Creek in 1854 and was employed by John Mullins on his large farm. Later, young Chase purchased a part of Mullin’s farm and remained a leading citizen of the community. Mr. Chase served as a captain in the Confederate Army and was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates for two terms.
A brick courthouse and wooden jail were constructed on the public square fixed by Commissioners, who laid out the town with Main Street in the middle, High Street parallel on the north side and Walnut Street on the south. Narrow alleyways connected these three streets. Captain Chase sold lots to officials and other interested persons seeking home sites in the new community.
Community Spirit
Citizens of Clintwood have shown for many years a keen interest and pride in local school facilities. The first public school was established before the community became the county seat and a high school opened it’s doors in 1910. In 1921, construction began on the Dickenson Memorial High School, dedicated to the memory of Dickenson County boys who made the supreme sacrifice in the World War.
Clintwood had one moving picture theatre in those early years with a capacity of 200. The playhouse showed silent movies two nights a week.
Clintwood was and always will be a good place to live.
Submitted by: Mary Hylton
