Chestnut Ridge people

Chestnut Ridge people
Total population
	About 1,500
Regions with significant populations
	United States
Languages
	English
Religion
	Protestant
Related ethnic groups
	Melungeons, Native Americans

The Chestnut Ridge people (CRP) are a mixed-race community concentrated in an area northeast of Philippi, Barbour County in north-central West Virginia, with smaller related communities in the adjacent counties of Harrison and Taylor. They are often referred to as "Mayles" (from the most common surname — Mayle or Male), or "Guineas" (now considered a pejorative term).^[1]^[2]

The group has been the subject of county histories and some scholarly studies. Some scholars have classified this group as a tri-racial isolate. Contemporary census records frequently designate community members as "mulattos", implying African heritage. Thomas McElwain wrote that many CRP identified as an Indian-white mixed group, or as Native American, but they are not enrolled in any officially recognized tribe.^[3] Paul Heinegg documented that many individuals were classified as free people of color, or similar terms in a variety of colonial, local and state records.

Some CRP have identified as Melungeon, a mixed-race group based in Kentucky and Tennessee, and attended the Melungeon unions, or joined the Melungeon Heritage Association. In 1997 two local historians made a presentation about the "Guineas of West Virginia" at the University of Virginia's College at Wise.^[4]

^ Price, Edward T., "A Geographical Analysis of White-Negro-Indian Racial Mixtures in the Eastern United States" Archived 2008-03-30 at the Wayback Machine, Association of American Geographers Annals, Vol. 43 (June 1953) pp. 138-55.
^ Gaskins, Avery F. (1970), "The Epithet "Guinea" in Central West Virginia"; West Virginia University Philological Papers 17: pp. 41-44.
^ McElwain, Thomas (1981), Our Kind of People: Identity, Community, and Religion on Chestnut Ridge, A Study of Native Americans in Appalachia, (Stockholm Studies in Comparative Religion, No. 20).
^ Joanne Johnson Smith & Florence Kennedy Barnett, "The Guineas of West Virginia: A Transcript of A Presentation at First Union" Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine, 25 July 1997; Wise, Virginia

[1] Price, Edward T., "A Geographical Analysis of White-Negro-Indian Racial Mixtures in the Eastern United States" Archived 2008-03-30 at the Wayback Machine, Association of American Geographers Annals, Vol. 43 (June 1953) pp. 138-55.

[2] Gaskins, Avery F. (1970), "The Epithet "Guinea" in Central West Virginia"; West Virginia University Philological Papers 17: pp. 41-44.

[3] McElwain, Thomas (1981), Our Kind of People: Identity, Community, and Religion on Chestnut Ridge, A Study of Native Americans in Appalachia, (Stockholm Studies in Comparative Religion, No. 20).

[4] Joanne Johnson Smith & Florence Kennedy Barnett, "The Guineas of West Virginia: A Transcript of A Presentation at First Union" Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine, 25 July 1997; Wise, Virginia

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