Newport, R.I.? No.

Palm Beach, Fla.? No.

Bramwell, W.Va.? Yes, that's the one.

"No way," you say. At least that's what I said when the statistic first came to my attention. Not a town in West Virginia, the state of my birth, the butt of so many tired jokes involving poverty, obesity and lack of dental hygiene.

But apparently it's true. Even a century after its heyday, Bramwell, in Mercer County near the Virginia border, remains a tiny Victorian testament to a time when coal was king and the geological riches of the state provided wealth to a collection of mine owners, men who built grand, beautiful homes, many of which remain today to be toured and appreciated by visitors.

At the end of the 1800s, 14 or 19 millionaires (accounts differ) were living in Bramwell, whose population then was about 4,000. Today it's about 400. Fourteen passenger trains stopped there every day. Other than Paris and New York, it was the only place in the world where Chanel No. 5 perfume was sold. According to one account, the Bryant Pharmacy, now known as the Corner Shop, sold about $25,000 worth of the perfume per year. That's about $300,000 in today's dollars.

There's nothing like the smell of success.

Bramwell is believed to be the first U.S. town with electric street lamps (the originals still stand). It had its own water company, electric company and phone company and a weekly newspaper.

The Corner Shop, though closed and waiting for its new owner to complete restoration, stands at Main and Bloch streets. A peek through the window offers a glimpse of the long soda counter, the tile floor with its chicken wire pattern, and the cherry cabinetry made on-site by Welsh carpenters. It isn't difficult to find nostalgic photos of the interior when the building served as ice cream parlor, pharmacy and perfumery.

The store is a block from the rebuilt train station, the best place to begin a walking tour.

The depot is, in a word, adorable. It also serves as a museum and provides an overview of the area's coal history. Relics and mementos bring to life the era when 100,000 miners worked the rich and dangerous local coal seams without benefit of modern machinery and safeguards. They were, in large part, immigrants recruited right from Ellis Island.

Others were descendants of slaves who crossed into the free territory of West Virginia when it became a state in 1863 at the height of the Civil War. But the miners didn't live in Bramwell. Their town was about three miles up the road and bore no resemblance to Bramwell's affluent beauty.

You'll want to tour that town, too. Pocahontas, Va., the miners' town, is minutes away, but it's economically miles apart.

It was Bramwell's houses, though, that captivated me. Those of us who are suckers for house tours can find nirvana in Bramwell. Twice yearly, on the second Saturday of May and December, the town's mansions open their doors. But you'd be surprised by how many houses you can find yourself on any Saturday.

Behind the doors

I was poking around the town, looking into the few shops, checking out the cafe and sizing up the houses when I met the force known locally as Molly Robinette.

Molly and Larry Robinette own the River's Bend Bed and Breakfast, also known as the Hewitt House. She is also a former mayor, former drama teacher, current English teacher, gardener, stained-glass artist and community activist.

Her house was built in 1914 by the wife of a coal operator who also was the town's first mayor.

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