We are amassing a rather impressive collection of pictures of Mannington, WV, and the buildings there. Instead of putting the on this site, we have a 1632 & Beyond Flickr account. That also lets us share photos from other people. If you need something specific, please email bethanne at 1632andbeyond dot com and ask.
It was agreed early on that places in Grantville would largely match up with what is in Mannington, WV. In the 25+ years since the book was written, those buildings have changed and they change more every year. By and large, what you can see in Google maps will be considered what is true and correct for the Ring of Fire. The major known exceptions are on Market and Water streets in the downtown business district. We are becoming very much sticklers for following this because it’s too difficult to remember small changes an author made. You may think it would be nice to have a basement in the library (and it would), but there isn’t one there IRL nor is there one in canon to this point. Looking at the photos or Google maps and seeing there isn’t a basement is easy. Remembering that one short story in a magazine issue added a basement is not. So, please, stick to what you can see. And ask about the buildings on Market and Water. You can see some of the derelicts that came through the RoF in usable, if beat up, condition, but others were gone between the Ring of Fire and when the first Google Maps images were taken around 2008. (County land records confirm the buildings were there.)
Not all of the photos we have been collected will be shared there. We have screen shots from real estate websites for homes that have been claimed for various characters. If you are using those characters, we are happy to share them with you or to check them for details you might need, but even though they were publicly available and are from prior owners, we are simply choosing not to share interior shots from private homes. We are also choosing not to share all the interior shots (and videos) from churches and businesses. As stated, we have them for reference, upon request. For example, one author wrote a characters shoes were clicking on the floor upon entering Leahy. When we checked the photos and video, they confirmed that area is carpeted, so that detail was corrected.
As it has been over twenty years since the original novel was published, things are starting to diverge fairly significantly. That’s why this photo archive is so very important for our universe.
In addition to Mannington, we have photos Eric and his wife Lucille took in Germany of the area near where Grantville ended up, as well as some other areas of interest.