On April 5, 2010, the Upper Big Branch mine explosion rocked the small town of Whitesville West Virginia. With the loss of 29 miners, the UBB mine disaster was the worst mine disaster in the state in decades. To remember their lost loved ones, the community created a memorial in their honor. The Upper Big Branch Mining Memorial Group, Inc. ensures the continuing maintenance and upkeep of the memorial.
The tragedy at Hawks Nest Tunnel is considered one of the greatest industrial disasters in American history. When chemical-manufacturing giant Union Carbide commissioned a 3-mile long tunnel through silica-rich Gauley Mountain in 1930, basic respiratory safety procedures were ignored and hundreds of the mostly lower-class African American miners contracted fatal cases of silicosis. The death toll, which is still contested, ran into the hundreds, and space was needed quickly to bury them. Racial tensions at the time did not allow African Americans to be buried with whites, so Union Carbide paid a local farmer for use of his fields as a makeshift cemetery. When the highway came through forty years later, in 1972, the graveyard was relocated and the dead forgotten again--until a local couple stepped in. Through the help of the community and local high school students, the cemetery has been restored and received a dedicated a memorial site in 2012.
John Henry Historical Park stretches from the mouth of the Great Bend Tunnel to the CSX crossing at the John Henry Museum (Dillion's Store) in Talcott, West Virginia. The monument is dedicated to preserving and interpreting the story of American Folk Hero, John Henry. The park features a stage, picnic shelter and tables, walking trails, and bronze statue of John Henry. Recent work by historian Scott Reynolds Nelson reveals the likelihood that John Henry was a real person who died as a result of the convict labor system.
A monument to African American folk hero John Henry was dedicated in 1972 and stood at this location for over forty years before it was relocated to the new John Henry Historical Park on the other side of the tunnel. According to legend, John Henry was born a slave in the 1840s but was freed after the war. The story has transformed over the years and many still cling to the mythical story of Henry defeating a steam-powered drill in a battle of man vs machine that continues to resonate with those fearing changes due to technology.
The John Henry Museum is located in Talcott, West Virginia, and is dedicated to the legend of and real man John Henry himself. The museum has a gift shop and is placed next to the John Henry Park. The building that the museum is in used to be a very popular grocery store. It is open from Friday to Sunday.
The Fayetteville Post Office was constructed in 1938 using federal Treasury Department funds. The building is a simple rectangular structure made of brick. Large linteled windows define the front facade, which features a particularly expansive glass entry portal. A flat roof contributes to the inherent blockiness of the structure. Functionality, rather than aesthetics, was clearly the architectural goal of this Works Progress Administration (WPA) building. Despite the relative austerity of the exterior, the interior of the post office is adorned with a large oil on canvas mural by Nixford Baldwin. Baldwin was a Massachusetts based artist known for his inspiring painted and sculpted works. Though he completed several WPA commissions, “The Miners” in Fayetteville is his most famous work. The piece depicts a variety of scenes of life in a mining camp. On the left, men work in mines to extract coal and deliver it to the surface. On the right, a parent and their child walk through a busy industrial site. The color palette, well-outlined nature of the figures, and emphasis on labor suggests that Baldwin was strongly influenced by Mexican Muralism in creating this piece. Like most WPA sponsored works, the piece is calm and non-confrontational. The hardships found in coal towns are avoided, but so too is glorification of the work occurring eschewed.
The WV Coal Miners Memorial is located on the grounds of the West Virginia State Capitol Complex in Charleston, West Virginia. Coal mining has deep roots in West Virginia and is a quintessential aspect of culture in the Mountain State. However, coal mining is difficult and dangerous work. The Coal Miners Memorial was designed by Burl Jones in 2002 to honor the men and women who have dedicated their lives to mining coal in West Virginia. To this day, the statue remains a gathering site for those wishing to honor coal miners for their hard work, historical contributions, and personal sacrifices.
The miners memorial is a result of three years effort on the part of the Winding Gulf Restoration Organization, a local non-profit organization based out of Helen. With the help from nearby businesses and organizations, the memorial was finished in the summer of 2007 and honors those miners who lived or worked in Helen. Also located at the site of the memorial are interpretive signs installed in 2018 with the help of the National Coal Heritage Area Authority and the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia.
The life size statue of a coal miner to honor coal miners in each county who lost their lives in West Virginia. Stone structures of each county surround the statue of a “coal miner who lost his life in the mine.”
The memorial honors the 97 miners killed on April 30th, 1927. The Federal No.3 Miners Memorial proudly displays the names of the 149 miners who bravely perished in the mine, including those who died in the fateful mine explosion in 1927. Both faces of the memorial lists the names of the miners and the year of their death. The Miner's Logo also displays above the memorial on both faces. The memorial now stands proudly near Federal No. 3, next to the Friendship Baptist Church in Everettville.
On Saturday, July 23, 1966, disaster rocked the sleepy village of Mount Hope when an explosion occurred in Siltex Mine. Siltex (sometimes spelled Siltix) was operated on the edge of town by the New River Company, which was based in Mount Hope. A number of factors led to the explosion. Poor ventilation led to the accumulation of methane and other gases and standard space segmenting practices had not been followed. The foreman was the only person in the mine equipped with a flame safety lamp that should have been issued to every miner. Finally, all electric equipment in the area of the explosion was improperly contained and maintained. An errant spark from one of these electronics is what ultimately catalyzed the explosion. Seven miners in the immediate vicinity of the explosion were killed and two were severely injured. Thirty-nine other miners escaped relatively unharmed, though many of them were forced to barricade themselves in the mine until ventilation could be reestablished. According to state and federal reports, the accident was unequivocally the result of extreme negligence on the part of the New River Company, though the company refused to accept responsibility for the tragedy. The Siltex mine continued to operate until 1984, when the entrance was sealed. The memories of miners who lost their lives in the 1966 disasters still live on as surviving relatives and community members honor their lives at a yearly memorial service.
The memorial commemorates the victims of two mining disaster, the first in 1914 and the second in 1926. The 1914 tragedy was the second-worst mine disaster in West Virginia coal mining history. On April 28, 1914 the No. 5 mine of the New River Collieries Company exploded in Raleigh County about four miles from present-day Beckley. The explosion carried over to the connecting No. 6 mine. A total of 183 men died in this mining disaster as a result of a faulty ventilation system. A second disaster occurred twelve years later when nineteen miners were killed on March 8, 1926. Both disasters were preventable as they were caused by the ignition of methane gas by mining equipment.
November 6, 1943, 11 men were killed after a mining machine sparked and ignited gas causing an explosion in a mine shaft in Nellis, WV. At the entrance of the road to the mine, there is still a monument that remembers the miners that were victims in this horrible incident. The heartbreak of this disaster is still obvious all throughout the area. A museum in a local church is dedicated to the miners who lost their lives. The children of the men lost in the explosion still live in the area.
The memorial honors the 22 coal miners killed in an explosion at the Compass No.2 Mine on April 25, 1963.
The Newburg Mine Disaster Memorial honors the 39 men and boys were killed in the gas explosion at the Mountain Brook Shaft of the Newburg Orrel Coal Company in 1886. The Newburg Mine Disaster was the first big shaft mine explosion in the state of West Virginia. The bronze plaque was dedicated by the Newburg Rotary Club in 1989, and is located in front of the Newburg Post Office.
The life size statue of a widowed mother and children in honor of the 361 miners killed in the Monongah Mines disaster on Dec. 6, 1907. The Monongah Mining Disaster of 1907 is the worst industrial disaster in U.S. History. The working memorial bell was donated by the Italian government. The Monongah Heroine Statue makes up part of the memorial to the victims of the Monongah Mine Disaster at the corner of Main Avenue and Bridge Street in downtown Monongah, West Virginia.
Located in the former Chambers Hardware store in Matewan, the back wall of the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum still bears bullet holes from the legendary conflict it represents. While the Matewan Massacre shootout itself was only one occurrence in a massive chain of labor strikes, killings and political machinations, it helped touch off a catastrophic series of events that culminated in the assassination of Sheriff Sid Hatfield (of Hatfield and McCoy fame) and the infamous Battle of Blair Mountain--where 10,000 armed miners fought for several days against several thousand deputies and private coal company militiamen. The museum commemorates these events and explores them from the perspective of the common coal miner.
Founded in March 2000, The Northern Appalachian Coal Mining Heritage Association (NACMHA) is dedicated to educating the public on our regional coal mining heritage. NACMHA operates a seasonal interactive coal mining museum in Fairmont, West Virginia adjacent to Coal Country Miniature Golf course along Interstate 79.
On April 30, 1927, a powerful explosion occurred at Federal No. 3 mine in Everettville, Monongalia County, West Virginia. At least ninety-seven miners lost their lives. In the wake of the tragedy, the West Virginia Department of Mines conducted an investigation into the cause of the explosion. It concluded that a spark from a storage battery locomotive ignited built-up methane and coal dust in the mine, causing the deadly explosion. The agency claimed that rock dusting could have significantly reduced the magnitude of the explosion. Mine executives at Everettville, however, refused to do so prior to the tragedy, believing that the mine was too wet for coal dust to propagate a methane ignition.
Despite being considered one of the greatest industrial disasters in United States history, the events at Hawks Nest Tunnel remain remarkably unacknowledged in the development of American labor. As the country sank into the Great Depression, in 1930-1932 a three-mile long tunnel from was dug through the heart of Gauley Mountain in the Kanawha Valley of West Virginia by Union Carbide corporation to divert water to a hydroelectric plant, and at the time the project was considered an engineering marvel. Lax safety standards and a disregard for worker welfare, however, caused the death of hundreds of workers from silicosis. Despite later legislation that set precedents in mining and safety standards, Union Carbide avoided any real consequences in the investigation that followed.
The Layland Mine Explosion on March 2, 1915 is recorded as the worst mining disaster in Fayette County history. A total of 112 men died from the explosion. During the first few days after the incident, 53 men were found to have survived the blast. The explosion of the mine shocked many in the area as it was believed that the Layland Mine was one of the safest in West Virginia at the time. Coal continued to be gathered from the Layland Mine until the 1980s, when the mine closed and as a result, Layland’s economy suffered. A 2014 memorial was erected in Layland to remember the miners who lost their lives. Organizers and fundraisers for the memorial believed that the Layland disaster was being forgotten and commemoration was necessary, so that the tragic history would not be lost.
On Tuesday, March 8, 1960, the Holden Mine at Island Creek No. 22 caught fire in the coal seam, and it created a carbon monoxide gas which killed eighteen men by asphyxiation. The men were trapped shortly after entering the mine at seven in the morning. The last word from them came about 8:30 that morning shortly before the telephone lines burned.Officials blamed the fire on a cable or trolley line which was suspected to have been knocked down near a wooden timber that arced until the wood caught fire.
On December 6th, 1907, Fairmont Coal Company mines No. 6 and No. 8 exploded near Monongah, West Virginia. Officially 362 people were killed in the explosion, though later historians and researchers place that number much higher. The resulting outcry over the disaster led to the enactment of numerous safety regulations and was a factor in the creation of the United States Bureau of Mines. The aftermath of the disaster was trying for the town’s residents and the surviving family of workers and left a powerful legacy that is still felt today.
The Farmington Mine disaster occurred on November 20th, 1968 the community of Farmington in Marion county West Virginia when the Consol No. 9 mine erupted in flames. The cause was never officially announced at the time but the incident helped inspire the passage of several laws designed to protect miners. Recently new evidence has come to light in regards to the incident, with investigations alleging that the incident was caused by negligence. Legal action in regards to the accident is ongoing. The memorial honors the 78 miners killed in an explosion on November 20, 1968.
On April 28, 1924, 125 men went into work at the mines of Wheeling Steel Corporation in Benwood, WV. Minutes after walking into the mine, 119 men were dead after an explosion happened at 7:05 am. Every miner who had made it into the mine failed to make it out. If they survived the explosion, they died of suffocation or were crushed to death by roof falls. This was the second worst mining disaster to date.
In 1880 the West Virginia militia was used for the first time to stop a coal mine strike. The clashing of union and nonunion workers in the Coal Valley and Hawks Nest mines led the unionized works to halt work. After the strikers threatened violence to workers in neighboring mines, Governor Henry Matthews called in the state militia to arrest miners and break up the strike. The events at Hawks Nest and Coal Valley set a president for the handling of future mine strikes. The Hawks Nest Rail Trail offers a view of the Mill Creek Colliery Mine which was involved in the strike.
The coal conveyor and tipple were the focal points of Nuttallburg. They were instrumental in the production of coal by eliminating the need to transport loads of material down the mountain by hand. The first conveyor and tipple were constructed from wood. When the Fordson Coal Company took over Nuttallburg Mine, they upgraded several pieces of mining equipment, including the tipple and conveyor. The mine entrance was located halfway up the mountain; in order to transfer coal without breakage, the Fairmont Mining Machinery Company engineered a 1,385ft. long conveyor featuring button and rope technology. This technology consisted of a heavy wire (rope) with iron discs (buttons) spaced at four ft. intervals to move coal safely down the sharp incline. The conveyor additionally provided most of its own power. Though an electric engine was used to start it, once in motion, the movement of coal sustained the conveyor belt. At the time of its construction, the conveyor was the largest in the world. The tipple was built to store the coal, load it into rail cars, and transfer it to coke ovens. Nuttallburg had three tracks that passed underneath the tipple, allowing for optimal coal production. Though the conveyor and tipple have deteriorated some over the past century, they have been stabilized by the National Park Service and remain in sturdy condition.
The Chesapeake and Ohio Coaling Tower was used to refill the coal reserves of steam engines passing through Thurmond. Trains could pull directly under the structure, at which point a series of gates opened and coal poured into the train via redirectable chutes. In addition to a five hundred ton coal capacity, the coaling tower was also equipped to unload wet sand and replace it with dry sand. The sand was used in the engine along with the coal to keep everything running smoothly. The Fairbanks, Morse, and Company from Chicago designed the structure. An unrecorded New York construction firm built the tower in 1922. The total cost of the coaling station was about $85,000. At seventy feet tall, it would have likely been the tallest building in Thurmond. The Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad (C&O) continued using the cooling tower well towards the middle of the twentieth century, even after other railroads had quit coal entirely. C&O’s continued reliance on coal was due in part to how much of the product the railroad transported. However, the coaling tower was eventually abandoned in 1960. Though the physical appearance of the tower has deteriorated, it remains in stable condition, and is one of the most iconic extant structure from Thurmond’s heyday.
This two-story vernacular commercial building was built in 1920. It was originally operated as the Patteson Garage Co., which was owned by L.C. Patteson. Patteson was the father of former West Virginia Governor Okey Patteson. Governor Patteson worked at the garage as a young man. The business later closed and the building sat idle during Mount Hope’s economic downturn from the departure of the coal industry. The site is now owned by the Coal Heritage Authority; this building will be the location of their office and a welcome center for the Mount Hope rails-to-trails system. The building is also currently being restored for use by the Coal Heritage Discovery Center, a visitor center featuring coal heritage interpretive exhibits.
Coal Heritage Park educates visitors on the history of Mt. Hope. The area that is now Mt. Hope, WV was sparsely populated until the discovery of a coal seam by settlers at Turkey Knob and another at Glen Jean. Coal companies and their employees flooded the town and by 1894, there were several companies in Mt. Hope. The industry’s growth in the area was aided by the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway line that was built through the town in 1873. Mt. Hope steadily gained population and was incorporated in 1895. The town was unique as it was not a company owned mining town, as many others in the region were. Because of this independence, Mt. Hope had a much wider variety of businesses and was not limited to a single company owned store. Like many other coal towns, the population and commercial growth of the city has been in decline as the coal industry has become less profitable. The park was created in 1930, just nine years after Mt. Hope was granted a city charter by the West Virginia Legislature. The iconic drinking fountain in the park rests on a concrete foundation with semi-circular arches and keystones of native ashlar stone. Landscaping includes various trees and a planting bed surrounding a large piece of coal mounted on a concrete base. Across the street, an exposed seam of coal is framed by a cut stone arch with the words "Famous New River Smokeless Coal" inscribed above. Both assets are contributing structures in the Mount Hope Historic District. The city of Mt. Hope lies within the National Coal Heritage Area, which spans 13 counties in southern West Virginia. The National Park Service aims to protect the history of coal in the region and educate visitors on the region's history.
Beckley is a stop on the Coal Heritage Trail and the site of West Virginia's Exhibition Coal Mine. Located in a former mine and filled with historic equipment and exhibits, the mine also offers tours led by former miners in a historic coal car that once took men into the mines. The interactive experience takes visitors into a mine while providing information about the history of the coal mining experience from a variety of perspectives. The complex offers more of a nostalgic view of coal mining with static displays of company houses, stores, and schoolrooms. As a result, the visit should be paired with a visit to the Mine Wars Museum in Matewan and other sites related to labor, industrial disasters, and other aspects of coal mining history. At the same time, this exhibit offers something unique in that it offers a chance to tour a former mine, go 1500 feet underground, and talk with a veteran miner about their experiences and perspectives.
The Coal Heritage Riverwalk is part public park and part history lesson. Alongside two picnic shelters, a stage, green space, and riverfront walking trail, are interpretive signs detailing the town's rich coal heritage. The focal point of the park is a restored caboose that serves as a walkthrough museum. The park is located 200 feet from the Upper Big Branch Miners Memorial.
A museum located in downtown Madison, West Virginia that is dedicated to preserving the heritage of the coalfields for the future years and generations. It contains many memorabilia from the old coal mining days to today's coal mining jobs. It has a simulated coal mine and many other hands-on activities. It also includes a company store and a miner's home. The adjacent arts center displays Daniel Boone and explains how Boone County, West Virginia got its name.
The Buckeye Coal Tipple was the second tipple owned by the Buckeye Coal and Coke Company. Located at Freeman on Simmons Creek, the tipple opened in 1886. This was three years after the first coal shipped from Pocahontas, Virginia coalfields. The Buckeye Coal and Coke Company was owned and founded by the Hewitt family, who came to Bramwell in 1855 from Pennsylvania.
Constructed in 1923, the Houston Coal Company Store, also known as Koppers Store, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991 as one of the most unaltered remaining coal company stores in Southern West Virginia. It is a one-story building made of brick and features a near-perfect symmetry with round arches and a rear arcade.
The Carter Coal Company Store was built in Caretta, WV in 1912 just after the company was established. The originally T-Shaped building had a couple additions during its use as a company store and was considerably large for its time period. Despite the additions as time passed, the building still retains most of its original architectural features that were common for Carter Coal Company Stores and is a relic of days past where families were essentially forced to shop at Coal Company owned businesses.
Stone Mountain Coal Camp was built in the early 1900s by and for the coal company. It was an unincorporated town in Mingo County, West Virginia, with scattered land-holdings that stretched from North Matewan to Warm Hollow, which is strikingly close to the city limits of Matewan. Many miners and their families who lived here were violently evicted out of their company-owned housing on the morning of May 19, 1920 as an attempt to break the strike. These evictions left dozens of families homeless and led to the Battle of Matewan later that day, an event that left 10 people dead or dying.
In 1993, local residents hauled sixty-five tons of coal into the city of Williamson, West Virginia. This coal was not used for the production of heat or energy. Instead, residents built blocks of coal and used these to form walls that were two feet thick. These coal walls now house a local history museum within the Williamson Coal House. One of the region's most unique landmarks, the "House that Coal Built" is now a local history museum with exhibits that feature local artifacts. The building also serves as a symbol of the community and reflect the pride of many area residents who are descendants of coal miners.
The Davis Coal & Coke Company administration building, built in 1900 after an explosion destroyed the original structure, was the center of field operations for the Company until it closed in 1950. The two-story brick structure also housed the engineering department, where regional mines were planned, designed, and managed. The City of Thomas is the current owner of this property which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.
This Tour is a Walking Tour.
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This digital storymap includes pins for memorials and markers that share the history of coal mining, miners, and their experiences in coal camps as well as mining-related disasters.
