West Virginia, Day Two

 Just ripped off 114 miles today. Nice, short, enjoyable day of sightseeing.

From the rv park we headed west on US52, through Princeton, and on into the hills and valleys of Coal Country via the Coal Heritage Byway. We made our first stop at Pinnacle Rock State Park.

A short but steep climb brought us to the south side of the rock and a view that encompassed three states: West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina!

The hills are densely packed with hardwood forests. Gotta be here in the fall!

This spur of Flat Top Mountain is ore than 2700 feet above sea level.

The town of Bramwell, "Home of the Millionaires", is so named because many of the coal barons of the late 1800's and early 1900's built fancy homes in the area. Bramwell sits beside a creek, has a bit of flat ground for construction, and was far enough away from the coal mines that the ladies wouldn't smudge their dresses on the coal dust that seemed to permeate the very air itself.

Today, coal mining takes a seat in the very back of the bus. The main attraction now is the Hatfield~McCoy off-road system that snakes through West Virginia mountains for more than 1,000 miles! 

There are numerous entry points to the system, but Bramwell seems to be the hotspot to enter the Pocahontas area.

King Coal has been beaten and battered, enduring booms and busts. Now is a bust. There are still mines operating, and train cars hauling coal out of the mountains, but not like the "good old days". Locals cling to the hope that coal will come back, but regulations are stifling the industry, leading to hundreds of small towns that once survived on a local mine to die a slow death.

Empty houses and commercial building stand silently waiting. For something.

Passing through Switchback, Elkhorn, Powhatan, and Northfork, we arrived in Welch, the county seat of McDowell County, with a population of 2,500. 

It is a vibrant city, having shifted it's economic base from coal to new state and federal prisons. However, Welch, in the 1950's proclaimed itself "The Heart of the Nation's Coal Bin", and has not forgotten it's roots. In 1892, Welch was made the county seat by election, replacing the town of Perryville. Results of the election were contested, so to avoid violence, county records were secretly moved by wagon in the middle of the night! In 1921, the Welch City Council met to discuss the impeachment of then Mayor JH Whitt. Whitt showed up at the meeting and disrupted the proceedings. The City Council asked Sheriff William Johnson to investigate. Later that day, Mayor Whitt shot and killed the sheriff, and then arrested and charged with murder. He won acquittal allegedly based on perjured testimony and left the area for parts unknown that same year.

PARKING LOT?

Tuning south on 103 towards the "Friendly Town of Gary", we came across this coal conveyor belt system crossing the highway. 

Most of the small coal towns had some form of company housing. Some homes are still being used, some are not. Many are simply boarded up.

We decided to skip the towns of Skygusty and Horsepen, but made a note to try to get back to Jenkinjones. A return to Princeton found us at the only known Dairy Queen to have it's own menu in addition to the company fare. Upon a good friends recommendation, we ordered slaw dogs, a soda, and a berry shake. The dogs came with mustard, chili, slaw and onions. I'll let you know later this evening if I liked them...