Alberene Company Town

Founded as a company town for the Alberene Soapstone Company. The variety of soapstone found in this area is known as "Alberene" after the county (Albemarle) and the owner of the company James Serene.

Serene had worked in soapstone quarries in New Hampshire and New York after the Civil War, and in search of new sources of the material, he came to Albemarle County (he had served in the army in the area during the war). Soapstone had long been used for sills, hearthstones and fireplace linings. He was shown large deposits on the east side of Fan Mountain near Johnson's Mill Gap.

While he didn't realize it at the time, this soapstone deposit, known as the Albemarle-Nelson Belt, would prove to be the largest in the world.

In 1883 he established the Albemarle Soapstone Company, and built Alberene on the 2000 acre site known as Beaver Dam Farm.

The roads in this area retain the names of the original neighborhoods of Alberene: Quality Row, Stumptown, Dogtown, Gospel Hill, Spear Town, and Sunshine Hill.