Dark Sky Riders 2018


July 17 and 18  We left Brookville, PA headed for Beckley West Virginia.  What beautiful countryside to ride through.  Originally, Beckley was a stop on our way to Gatlinburg, TN but when doing our research, we discovered there was an old coal mine and a museum that you could tour next to the RV park.  They also had a miner shanty, a small house and a church.  Next to the mining camp, there was an 1870’s log home village you could tour.  All of this we found very interesting but the highlight was the tour of the coal mine.  The tour guides were retired miners and lived locally.  Our guide, by his own admission, was a hillbilly and he certainly looked and sounded the part.  If I had a nickel for every time he said “dad gum” our tour would have been free.  He loaded us all in a railroad car and took us into the mine which had been modified from its original structure for the tourists.  He had a lot of stories and demonstrations of how they mined coal by hand back in the old days, how they used the old carbide lights (which I remember dad had one in the basement), and how they used the tools.  There were examples of more modern machinery there as well.  If you are ever in the area I would suggest you take the time to check this out.

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