Home
Coalwood
   History Timeline
   Goldenseal Article (History)
   Coalwood Tipple
      Coalwood Tipple Part 2
   Inside Coalwood Mine
   Post Office
   Collectibles
   Robert Popp Essay
   N&W Historic Photos
   More Historic Photos
   Newspaper Clippings
   Coalwood Robins
   Information Needed
   Coalwood: Then & Now
   Steve Date Video
   Casey Gauntt Photos
   Olga Coal Brochure
   Obituaries
October Sky Festival
Other Places to Visit
   War
      Big Creek High School
   Caretta
      Caretta Tipple
   Welch
   McDowell County
   Bramwell
   Bluefield
   Pinnacle Rock
   New River Gorge/Bridge
   Tamarack
   Observatory/Science Center
   Pipestem Resort State Park
   Mountain Lake, VA
   West Virginia
   USSRC & Space Camp
Rocket Boys
   The Coalwood Series
   City Book Reads
   Sputnik
   Space Quilt
 October Sky
   Filming Locations & Info:
   Oliver Springs
      Walking/Driving Tour Map
      2010 Oliver Springs Festival
   Petros TN 1
   PetrosTN 2
   Wartburg TN 1
   Oak Ridge TN
   Harriman TN
   Knoxville TN
   About the Filming
   Press Kit
   Fred Schwendel
   The Making of October Sky
   Filming in Oak Ridge Area
   Filming in Petros
Bookstore
   Coalwood Cookbook
   The Clear Fork Series
   Red Helmet
Railroads
Coal Mining
   Old Mines Are Dangerous
   Getting the Coal Out
   ECRA
   Pocahontas Exhibition Mine
   Beckley Exhibition Mine
Visiting Coalwood
   Hotels
   Airports
   Camping
   Weather
   Coalwood Comm. Church
Webmasters
Reader Comments
Contact Us

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