Today we begin a four day visit to New River Gorge. It is the most recent addition to the National Parks.
New River Gorge is a four hour drive from our home. On the way, we passed Pilot Mountain in North Carolina. We also got to drive through a tunnel. We stopped for lunch at one of the best rest areas we have ever seen. It looked more like a small park than a rest area. By the time we got near New River Gorge, it was getting cloudy.
On the way to the Nuttallburg Trail.
Once we were inside the park, we drove down a narrow dirt country road. We followed a beautiful creek toward the trail.
The further we went, the narrower the road became. Fortunately, there was not much traffic so we got to enjoy the ride in the woods.
Nuttallburg, West Virginia was a coal mining town. It was abandoned many decades ago. On the lower level where we started, we could see the conveyor belt system, the coking areas, and the foundation remains of the town. The town is about a half mile walk from the mining operation. The mining operation and the town were founded in 1870. It was closed in 1958. Considering its age, the mining facility was well built.
It is almost a mile walk and an 800 foot climb from the town to the opening of the coal mine. You can see the conveyor belt disappearing into the woods on its way to the mine. It was a tough walk to work. It was an even tougher day working in the mine. The only good news each day was it was a downhill walk back to home.
The facility was built next to a railroad track. The conveyor belt had an interesting dumping mechanism for loading coal onto the train. Some of the coal was processed on site into coke, a variety of coal used in steel making. You can see more history of the town at https://www.nps.gov/neri/planyourvisit/african-american-life-in-a-coal-camp-nuttallburg.htm.
There was a stream near the town and the coal mining area. It was easy to imagine people using the stream to cool off and clean up after a hard day at the coal mines.
We had the advantage of a road and a car to get up to the coal mine. We still had a long hike in the woods to get to the mine. It was still a much easier hike than the one from the town.
Here you can see the mine opening. It narrowed down quickly inside. Most days people were hunched over or laying in a cart in a tunnel to do their work. It was hard, dirty work. At least you had a good view from that height when you got to bring coal out. You might even get to see some flowers sometimes. However, when the mine was running, everything was very dusty and dingy.
It is difficult to comprehend how uncomfortable and dangerous the mining actually was. In comparison, our hard jobs are not as difficult as we think they are.
After our tour of Nuttallburg, we drove to our hotel for the night. We were thankful for a warm, clean place to stay.