This week on The City Slicker… I’m taking you to Exhibition Coal Mine!
Here, visitors ride through the dark passages of a vintage coal mine that is one of four underground mines that could be toured in the United States.
It’s offered to give people a sense of what Coal Mining is like, and the coolest part about it… the guides are retired miners that provide firsthand accounts of the daily life of a Coal Miner!
“It’s a good life. I wouldn’t trade it for a $10,000 bill.” – Cliff Hunter, Retired Miner
“Meeting the people and discussing different things. We tell them about the coal mines and they tell us about things that we don’t know about, so it’s interesting.” – Marvin Turner, Retired Miner
The coal mine is 1500 ft deep, and has a temperature of 56 degrees year around! But that doesn’t stop hundreds of people from coming to take a tour of the mine, and learn about the daily responsibilities and stories of past and present Coal miners.
“Without Coal you don’t have steal and you don’t have commerce, and it’s so very important. The people locally don’t really understand that, they just know that their grandpa or their brother or their uncle, was a Coal Miner, but they don’t understand the economic importance of it and neither do the people who visit here from out of state.” -Leslie Baker, Director of Exhibition Coal Mine
To plan your next trip and experience living through history, visit GoToWV.com.
Until next trip… catch me if you can!
