Chestnut Ridge people
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (About 1,500) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 United States
|
|
| Languages | |
| English | |
| Religion | |
| Protestant | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Melungeon, Mulatto, American Indian |
The Chestnut Ridge people (CRP) are a mixed-race (or tri-racial isolate) community residing just northeast of Philippi, Barbour County in north-central West Virginia, USA. They are often called "Mayles" (from the most common surname — Mayle or Male) or "Guineas" (a pejorative term). Some CRP have identified as Melungeon and attended the Melungeon Unions or joined the Melungeon Heritage Association. Many CRP identify themselves as Native American, or as an Indian-white mixed group.
The local West Virginia historian Hu Maxwell was bemused by the origin of these people when he studied Barbour County history in the late 1890s:
There is a clan of partly-colored people in Barbour County often called "Guineas", under the erroneous presumption that they are Guinea negroes. They vary in color from white to black, often have blue eyes and straight hair, and they are generally industrious. Their number in Barbour is estimated at one thousand. They have been a puzzle to the investigator; for their origin is not generally known. They are among the earliest settlers of Barbour. Prof. W.W. Male of Grafton, West Virginia, belongs to this clan, and after a thorough investigation, says "They originated from an Englishman named Male who came to America at the outbreak of the Revolution. From that one man have sprung about 700 of the same name, not to speak of the half-breeds." Thus it would seem that the family was only half-black at the beginning, and by the inter-mixtures since, many are now almost white.
The local pejorative term "guinea" was still being used more than a century after these words were written. By the 1860s, many individuals of these mixed-race families had married into the white community and their descendants identified as white, serving in West Virginia regiments during the Civil War. Records in the Barbour County Courthouse indicate that several of them petitioned the courts (successfully) to be declared legally white at this time.
...
Wikipedia