Official Coal Miners' Memorial for the Commonwealth of Virginia

Today I ran into some folks that hate coal. It has powered our homes, our towns and for many years our trains. Coal and Coal Mining has also been the lifeblood of this country forever and for my little community here too. There isn't one person I can think of a single soul that has not had a family member or were in fact themselves miners. These people I mentioned in the beginning of tonight's blog made some unflattering comments about the coal industry and a few slurs concerning the Coal Miners....
They later apologized!


So bow your heads for a moment of silence and give a respectable nod to those brave Coal Miners of the Past, Present, and Future..Thanks Y'all


And now allow me to show that memorial erected in the town of Richlands, Virginia. It was built at an expense totaling over $300,000.00 in front of the Town Hall...a converted structure that once was the Mattie Williams Memorial Hospital (where I was born and while in my teens the young folk used to try sneak into the place near the morgue area and do some ghost tripping since was rumored to be haunted..) 
http://billbolling.com/news/article/908 of the dedication of the memorial and a tribute to those fallen heroes.

The Coal Miners' Memorial is a testament to the heritage of the Town of Richlands. Dedicated in 2003,the memorial is a tribute to the men/women who sacrificed all they had to make a living. The memorial sculptured by Maria Kirby-Smith depicts a miner exiting the mine. He's covered in the toll of the day with his lunch bucket & pick in hand as he catches a breath of fresh air. The black granite wall represents the mine. The cascading water shares the wealth of ever-flowing natural resource we call coal. Etchings of the history of mining linger on the face of the monument while the back bears the names of over 1000 miners who died fulfilling their destiny. The engraved brick walkway lights the path for the miner as he continues his track home. Artists: Ellen Elmes & Thomas Hagerman.


In addition to the Miners' Memorial, the Virginia Coal Heritage Trail is another project underway to honor this part of our culture.

The trail will extend through seven coal mining counties, picking up where it ends in West Virginia...

Now I know mining is and has always been a global way of life and that is just a small part of how we here in my area want to pay tribute and respect to our heritage history and the brave souls who put their lives on the line to power this country...

In closing I will show y'all a few YouTube videos as more of that tribute and to shed light on the way things are underground..

It's a hell of a dangerous life but if they hadn't done it...
How do you think things would be now?

Thanks for stoppin' in Y'all....come back and see us again...