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

Casey Gauntt Photos


Casey Gauntt, Hilary Gauntt, Homer Hickam (2009)

During 1968, the Case Foundation Company of Chicago, Illinois, was hired by Olga Coal Company to come to Coalwood and install a new ventilation shaft.  Grover C. Gauntt, Jr, the president of Case Foundation Comapny, thought it would be a good idea for his son, Casey Gauntt, to join the project in Coalwood for the summer of 1968.  Casey had just graduated from high school in Chicago, and Grover thought a summer in Coalwood would be a good work experience for his son.  (Grover stayed in Chicago to manage the company.)   During that summer, Casey lived in a corner, second-floor room in the Clubhouse, overlooking the Olga Big Store.

Forty years later, Casey, now a real estate attorney in San Diego, had a rather remarkable reconnection to Coalwood.  Casey's experience is documented in a short film entitled The Letter, which will be on the next release of Steve Date's Welcome to Coalwood DVD

Casey sent along a few photographs from 1968.  Casey writes, "I believe Tim Bowman, a resident of Coalwood, my age, and who worked for Case Foundation that summer, is the one who took the Polaroid pictures of us in the Clubhouse."

View Casey's 1968 Kodak slideshow here.

In 2009, Casey returned to Coalwood for the 2009 October Sky Festival.  Casey also sent along some photos of that trip.

View Casey's 2009 Kodak slideshow here.

For those of you who are interested, here is a link to today's Case Foundation web site:
http://www.casefoundation.com