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| Phillips Residence (Hinton, WV) Currently REACHH Child Advocacy Center Photo from Google Maps |
A white frame home sits at 411 Temple Street in Hinton, WV. Built around 1910-1911, the former residence houses REACHH, a charitable organization aimed at community outreach and youth services. It serves as the Child Advocacy Center, with a playroom for Birth-Age 5 programs, counseling services, intervention services, abuse awareness, and a host of other services for the area's youth. But, it once was just a normal family home in Hinton.
The home was (most-likely) built by the Phillips Family. George Phillips, like so many other Hinton residents, worked as an engineer for the C&O Railroad. George Hayward Phillips was born on March 16, 1860 in Fayetteville to Mary Elizabeth and James Phillips. He settled in Hinton in the early 1890's, where he married Amanda Lowry Bailey, a widow with a young daughter of her own. They were married on October 23, 1893.
Amanda Hallie Lowry was born near Salt Sulphur Springs on February 14, 1864 to Samuel and Sarah Lowry. Her family arrived in Hinton in the early 1880s, where she married her first husband, James Henry Bailey, who passed away in 1890. Together, they had a daughter named Clara.
It doesn't appear that Amanda and George had any additional children. George continued to work as an engineer for C&O, and to pass the time, Amanda operated a floral shop out of the home for many years. Each holiday season, the local newspaper was filled with ads for the women of Hinton to come to Mrs. Philllips' home at 411 Temple Street to purchase their Easter lilies, Christmas wreaths, and any other decorative and/or exotic plants they could want for their homes.
Death would come for Amanda Phillips on Halloween morning at 8 am, 1942. She had been ill for over two years and had recently taken a turn for the worse, but the doctors thought she was improving. Unfortunately, they were wrong. Amanda passed away in her Temple Street home from complications due to diabetes. Within a few months, the home was listed in the newspaper for sale, and George went to live with the Hedricks family on Tunnel Hill.
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| Photo from REACHH Child Advocacy Center FaceBook |
George's own health had been in decline since his retirement in 1938. He would pass away at the Hedrick home on May 16, 1946 from pneumonia. Both George and Amanda were buried in Hinton's Greenbrier Burial Park. Despite the couple being well-known and respected citizens, involved in many civic and church activities (he was a Mason, she was an Eastern Star, for example), George had very little family left upon his death. He was survived by a sister, and his step-daughter, Clara, and her husband Allen Hill.
Over the years, several additional families called the old house home, both the main living area and the attached above-garage apartment. In 1956, there was a near-fatal fire at this apartment that almost took the lives of a father and two small children. While Mrs. Morgan was at her nursing job at the local hospital, her husband, Homer and their two children (Cecil, 3 and Susie, 18 months) napped. Cecil woke his father up to tell him that the apartment was filled with smoke. Homer was able to safely exit the blaze with his two children, singing his hair and eyebrows in the process. 1956 was not a great year for the Morgan family, as that year Mrs. Morgan's sister, Jennie Lester passed away. Her body was brought to the home on 411 Temple for the funeral.
In 1951, there was another near-fatal accident in the home. E.D. Fredeking, a C&O fireman, took a nasty fall down the stairs before bedtime, around 10:30pm. He tumbled down 15 steps and was bruised severely. He was also bleeding profusely from several cuts on his head. The doctors believed he had fractured his skull, but luckily, the hospital checked him out and he suffered no broken bones.
The REACHH House/Phillips House is one of the featured locations on Hinton's Haunt Fest 2025 Creepy Crawl! Come join Appalachian Ghost Tours for a rare chance to investigate the potential paranormal activity! Can we capture on audio the residual "thump, thump, thump" and the unfortunate Mr. Fredeking takes a nasty tumble down the stairs? Does the aroma of violets and roses still permeate the air as a testament to the love and devotion by Mrs. Phillips to her craft? Or, do the spirits of those who lived and died in the home still walk its halls?
There have been recent reports of visitors having personal communications come through the spirit box from what appears to be an intelligent haunting connected with the home. From hearing one's name called to having confirmation that yes, the spirit DID know the person 'since they were a little girl' definitely indicates that the property is still home to at least one former resident.
To find out for yourself, come see me on Saturday, September 13th at 411 Temple Street! From 7pm to 12am, the building will be open for paranormal investigation and exploration. Bring your own equipment, or borrow ours---we'll guide you through the building and ghost hunting process. The cost is only $25, which includes full access to all speakers and workshops during the day. You may stay in one location the entire evening, or you can Creepy Crawl to a total of five locations throughout town, including the Poe Haus, the Campbell-Flanagan-Murrell Museum, the Summers County Library, and the old Wilson Warehouse. More information on Hinton Haunt Fest can be found at our Facebook Event Page, or on the flyer below!
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| The Independent Herald (Hinton, WV) 4 November 1942 |
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| Beckley Post Herald 17 May 1946 |
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