Driving Tour of Man West Virginia
Description
This driving tour of Man starts at the Buffalo Creek Disaster Memorial and winds its way south to the trail-head of the Hatfield and McCoy Trail.
The Colonial Motel is one of the oldest businesses in the region and has accommodated overnight guests since opening in 1954.
Established in 1921, McNeely's hardware store is the oldest continuously-operating business in Man, West Virginia.
In the Southern part of Logan County, West Virginia, sits the town of Man, originally known as Buffalo City. The town stands along the banks of the Guyandotte River. Prior to the arrival of settlers, the area was very pleasant teemed with wildlife and nature surrounding it. Today, the town of Man is known for its sense of community and tragedy.
Man Appalachian Regional Hospital was built in 1954 by the Miners Memorial Hospital Association. This hospital provided essential services for residents of southern West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky but was unable to remain in business as the community faced out-migration. The local miners were joined by area residents who hoped to keep the hospital staffed but the hospital closed in 2001 and the building was demolished in 2012.
Mountain Mama Moonshine was established on June 17, 2015 in the small West Virginia community of Man. The distillery is the first legal moonshine distillery in Logan County, licensed to owners Bill Copley, Christopher Trent, and Kevin Brown. The idea to create a distillery led to a wide variety of reactions among locals, from opposition to support. To learn more about this distillery, or the history of moonshine in this region, please click on the links below.
The Buffalo Creek Disaster Memorial, located in Kistler, WV, stands as a reminder of one of the darkest hours in West Virginia history. The Buffalo Creek Flood Disaster occurred on the cold rainy Saturday morning of February 26, 1972, when a coal slurry dam failed. This failure, predicted by inspector results, caused a domino effect by causing the failure of two other dams. The release of 132 million gallons of coal slurry devastated sixteen small communities that are collectively known as Buffalo Creek. The failure of the dam claimed the lives of 125, injured 1,100, and displaced an additional 4,000. The resulting loss of property exceeded fifty million dollars and the cleanup cost residents and taxpayers an additional fifty million dollars. Despite clear evidence of negligence, the Piston Coal Company paid only $1 million in damages.