TALCOTT, (Hinton News) – It is time for another edition of A Peek into Summers County’s Past. Each week, a collector of items from local history, William Jones, provides photos and information about pieces from his collection. In this edition, we are talking about a painting. The scene shows a house sitting in what looks like a field. A note on the back of the frame states that it is the “original house on Deva Island, Talcott WV.”
Jones stated, “I have not uncovered too much information about this week’s piece. I randomly stumbled across a Facebook post by Cole Cyrus this past January. Mr. Cyrus has an auction company in Huntington, WV. He posted a photo of this painting on a Summers County page to see if anyone had any information about it.” He continued saying, “His auction company is Elm Grove Auction Associates. I started communicating with Mr. Cole about the painting and told him what locals suspected about the piece. I filled out an absentee bidders form and won the historic painting. Mr. Cole then shipped me the piece.”
Speaking about the artwork, Jones said, “It is a beautiful little landscape painting on hardboard. It is signed on the back with the inscription ‘F.D. Lewis 1938 Original House on Deva Island Talcott, W. Va.’ I have searched, and searched where this camp and Deva Island was in Talcott. We know the camp, on the island near the John Henry Museum with the swinging bridge, was known as Gilfillian Island back in the day.”
“Mr. and Mrs. S.G. Gilfillian of Ironton, OH, had a camp on the island to the right of the bridge in Talcott. The Gilfillians were a wealthy family in Ohio. They would come to Talcott, WV, to spend their summers and, as can be seen on numerous postcards from the turn of the century, had lots of guests that would come with them. And would always have house parties.”
Extensive research has turned up little information on Deva Island. Based on location geography, educated guessing and knowledge from longtime locals, it is believed that the area in question is the island on the opposite side of Talcott Bridge from Gilfillian’s Island.
Stories of historical significance are often passed down through generations but are not recognized as such until much later. Jones shares tales from his grandfather that may relate to Deva Island. He said, “My grandfather Bernard Thompson, who was born in Talcott in 1927, would always tell me stories of another place at that time, a run-down house or what would now be known as a camp on the island to the left of the bridge in Talcott. He would tell stories about how he and his cousins would wander over to the island and go through the abandoned house when he was a child.”
Jones consulted multiple other individuals looking for more insight. Speaking about this endeavor, he said, “After talking with several historians in regards to Summers County, we all came to a general consensus that the island across from the water plant in Talcott must have been known as ‘Deva Island’. In talking with a longtime resident of the Talcott area, I discovered that you would get to this island by way of the ‘Narrows Road’ and the house in this painting must have been the abandoned house that my grandfather told me stories about from his childhood.”
This brings us to the end of another edition of A Peek into Summers County’s Past, only found at Hinton News. Have you heard of Deva Island? We would love to garner more information on the area. You can reach us by emailing news@hintonnews.com.
Do you have a story on local history to share? Let us know at the email address above. Be sure to check back next week for another look into the county’s past.
