Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine
Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine
513 Ewart Ave
P.O. Box 2514
Beckley WV 25801
Phone: (304) 256-1747
www.beckleymine.com
Open first weekend in April to November 1.
The Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine is located about two miles from I-77. Take exit 44 which is WV 3 and head east. Go 1.5 miles and turn left on Ewart Avenue. (Note: Ewart Avenue is very hard to find. Look for the Eagle Convenience Store on your left. Evert Avenue is just after Eagle.)
The mine and all the other buildings will be on your right after about 0.5 miles. There is lots of parking.
Driving Note: Remember that the I-77 exit for Bluefield is exit 1; Princeton is at exit 9. There is a toll booth on I-77 between Princeton and Beckley. In 2009, the toll for cars was $2.00 each way.
There are lots of things to do at the Beckley Mine.
Take a tour of
the coal mine on a mantrip. A real coal miner serves as your guide.
Tour the kid's
learning center.
Visit a
coal-miner's house.
Visit a
coal-town church.
Visit a
coal-town superintendent's home.
Visit a
coal-town two-room schoolhouse.
Tour a coal
museum.
Visit the gift
shop and snack shop.
The coal-miner's house, coal-town church, superintendent's house and school are furnished on the inside with antiques from the 1940s and 1950s and show you what life was life back then.
Please note that this is a very popular destination for school groups. If you want a less crowded tour, you might want to come later in the afternoon after the school buses have left.
Museum, gift shop, ticket sales, restrooms. The mine
entrance is to the left and behind the building.
The entrance to the coal mine is located on the side of this hill.
You can see several people in a mantrip about to enter the mine.
The mantrip is powered by a battery-operated motor.
The man in the hard hat is a coal miner. He will be out tour guide
and drive the mantrip into the mine.
In addition to the mine tour, there are lots of other things to see.
The small house is a coal-miner's house.
The church is a coal-town church.
One of the rooms inside the coal-miner's house.
Church.
Interior of the church.
Superintendent's House. The school is to the left.
The mine entrance is just to your right.
The school house.
The museum.
The kid's learning center. There are lots of hands-on activities inside.
Historic Marker
Coal Mining Video
Be sure to watch the video on the web site below. The video is about coal
mining in Southern West Virginia. There are scenes from the Beckley and
Pocahontas Exhibitions mines.
http://www.visitwv.com/beckleycoalmine.cfm