I was there in 1977 in national guard out of Parkersburg I was a medic I drove around with the chief of police at the time loved everything I seen great people even then have only been back 1 other time when my kids were little wva is heaven proud to be born and raised as a true hillbilly
I'm a history nerd & i love old & historic architecture. What a lot of history packed into a pretty little town. Matewan is a place i would enjoy visiting.
Leo y'all need to get in contact with Discovery or History Network. I can see and hope for a mini-series that educates people about what these hills have provided to the nation as a whole. It's unfortunate that West Virginia doesn't get the credit it deserves for basically creating the middle class in this county. Sid Hatfield literally gave his life for the cause. No one can tell the story like you two. Hats off from a fellow hillbilly from Kentucky. P.S I feel a road trip coming on to visit some of those restaurants you featured.
One thing I really enjoy besides the stories, is how much I feel like Leo and Heather are authentic. My grandpa used to say "Be what you are, not what you ain't." Good advice for all of us. Be who you are. Most of us are still trying to get comfortable with that person, but I really like seeing authenticity in others.
This video was absolutely fabulous Leo. Absolutely loved the history of Matewan. The movie doesn't do the massacre justice. Matewan is a beautiful little town. I have been all over WV except for Matewan. Such magnificent buildings and the plants are so decorative. Thank you so much for taking me along. Where is Heather????
My nephew has been riding the Hatfield McCoy trails since he was a youngster, and now he and his wife and friends take a week off and travel from NC to WV to ride the trails. They love it
My husband and I ( we are Canadians) were driving across the US and turned off the interstate in WV to get gas ( didn’t catch the name of the small town ) but it was so interesting - terribly run down but beautiful old brick buildings and brick roads - I always wanted to go back to WV because of that little town
It's a fascinating history. Like so many other things in the mountains, there's two sides to it, depending on which side you're looking at it from, and both sides were right in ways, and wrong in equally as many ways, like one big bar fight.
My husband is there right now on a riding trip. He was telling me about the massacre tonight. I had never heard of it so I’m here. Thanks for showing us around!
Hi Leo, enjoyed the video. Seems like a very quiet place so rich with history! The oldest building where I live is dated 1912. I was told it used to be a saloon. See ya take care!👍
Always curious about the coal fields my husband took me to Matewan about 20 years ago. It doesn’t look like it’s changed much in that time. Thanks for taking us along. I really enjoy your videos!
What a cool town with fascinating history. When i was working on a History degree in 1990, we spent half a semester learning about Matewan. I was lucky enough to have a great American History professor who felt strongly it was something we should all know about. I was in college in Colorado at the time, had always lived in the northern part of the country and knew nothing about it. It sparked my love, fascination and respect for this region and the men who worked the mines. Thank you so much for this tour! ❤
I loved seeing Matewan again, kinda makes me homesick. Mrs Nenni (her family owned Nenni's Dept store) was my English teacher at MHS. Thanks again Heather and Leo for your amazing videos and stories. ❤
Very interesting town. I do enjoy the old buildings. It's like stepping back in time. I do like they left the bullet holes in the wall. I would love to take a trip there. Thanks, Leo.
I just love your walking tours of the small towns and the museums in your area, you present the subject matter in a very easy to understand format and frankly watching the video I can almost picture myself there walking behind you taking in all of the sights and sounds, great presentation you have a very good knowledge of your local history and people and you presented in a format that I do not need to go get my dictionary to figure out what you're talkin about, very well done😊❤ any idea where the other two miners that were killed or actually buried at? It seems that there names have been lost to history.
This was so great. I love history and of course Hatfield/McCoy. Love WV too. Took a bus trip there when I was young. You are right....Never heard of this. And I am 60 years old. Thank you for your videos.
These men n women were and are the backbone of true America ❤ your true history tours im a seeker of history use to exsplore ghost towns like Murray Idaho 70's it was real a gem now the greedy have moved in just not the same thank you
Great video, Leo. Sorry we missed Heather. Enjoyed hearing more of the history about Matewan. It's always better to hear the history of place when someone is from there or spent a lot of time there. Much more interesting when you hear more than would just be in a travel brochure. God bless ya'll for all the time ya'll put into these videos. God bless and stay safe.
My husband is a umwa man. He's been there many times. He goes every year. He will be there this Saturday I think for the reenactment of the fight. My husband was at the building the day they started building. When they lay the first brick. Wow them sidewalks and some building need a pressure washed. Bring them right out nice and clean. The whole town looks nice.
ol Sid Hatfield married the mayors wife, like 1-2 weeks after he had been killed. Story goes that Sid and the widow were caught in a hotel room not too long after the Mayor's death, and married after being caught to squash any trouble.
I enjoyed your video and tour of this historic, picturesque town, surrounded by such beautiful scenery. West Virginia is absolutely gorgeous! and full of history. Thank you Leo and Heather for bringing that history alive for us! Is Matewan an Indian name, or was it named for a prominent citizen?
Glad you enjoyed it, in reality I think it was named after matawan new york, though rumor is its named after a man's dog named mate. 😀 not sure which is true
Looking at the old pictures and then flashing back to present time... I noticed more than anything how much dirtier it was back then compared to the lush thick green and clean clear air. Lol sorry but it just was something I noticed. Thank you for the tour and Heather you really are doing a great job editing. Both of you are awesome ❤❤
I'm loving all of your videos and all of the information. I'm nonstop watching them. Is there a newspaper that I can follow or subscribe to? Thank you!
Good video Leo like all your other ones tell me is a reason or meaning that all the awnings on main st are green ? Thank you for this one. FRANK from montana......
I always thought the 1913 copper strike in northern Michigan was the birth of the middle-class east of the Mississippi River. I have a suggestion for maybe how to get some of these graveyards cleaned up get in contact with the community resources of the county jail many times they have inmates that have to do so many hours of community service n cleaning up these old graveyards would be a very vital community service, it is worth looking into the worst they could tell you is no.
Leo,I get the feeling that there's more than one thing you haven't grown out of from your childhood!😊 (And that's cool! Don't ever grow up! Peter Pan says so!😂😂)
I believe that Mother Jones was once imprisoned while having a serious health problem and was saved by a Hatfield who happened to have been a Medical Doctor who saw her in the prison (the imprisonment of course orchestrated by outsider coal company money) also at least one and maybe more than one U.S. president sided with the coal companies in some of the union struggle and supported actual dropping of bombs on striking coal miners? (This action was somewhere other than Matewan I think) still besmirches these presidents coal mining in Eastern Pennsylvania having already been unionized to some extent and perhaps the coal played out just a little bit when the rich coal reserves of South and West West Virginia came to the attention of Northeastern Money who were determined to create big operations in WV and keep the unions out? Did Pennsylvania have company owned coal miner rental housing towns and company stores/script?
Unions have their place in some industries but not all . The coal mines definitely was #1 on the list of those that needed Unions . The automobile does not . The Railways don't either. Coal mining has to be the hardest and most dangerous job in the world .
Leo why don't you do a video on the traditions and superstitions of miners? Like in this video you mentioned about their dinner guests underground up here in the copper and iron of Michigan upper peninsula if you harmed one of your underground dinner guest,you could be fired on the spot, the old tradition was they rats and mice could since a roof fall or a bump before it even happened if you saw the rats and mice running it was time to get out then, up here the copper mines for pretty deep compared to the coal mines of the East, we hae the red jacket shaft that was 9.095 ft deep on a 36 degree incline, and you may have a ride of almost almost 30 minutes to reach the level you were working on that day, and the red jacket was part of a system of 18 underground shafts all connected at various levels with over 300 miles of active mine tunnels. All of these were on a copper seem that was about eight and a half miles long, all of the great Calumet and heckler miners lnc. The 1913 strike along with the Italian Hall disaster and a fight between the miners and the substitute workers brought in to take their places underground, called scrubs along with the mine bosses n Western federation of miners union devastated the copper industry up here and it never did ever recover to the level it was before the strike, unions can be a tool for positive change on one hand and then again they completely can devastate an community and the industry to support the community, two different sides to the same coin.
Leo the school system probably does not teach it because it's still stars of quite a lot of animosity, same as the strikes up here in the copper country they do not teach it in the local schools sort of like a hidden history that the locals like to keep quiet, and believe it or not even from back to the 1913-14 copper miners strike there is still a lot of animosity and occasionally unfortunately people will find out whose family was a scrub that went to work with for the mine companies crossing the picket lines, and there still fistfights that break out occasionally over this, between the Cornish English the miners from Finland and from Ireland, there still quite a bit of animosity and self-imposed segregation from churches n bars and even to the graveyard, sadly there is still a lot of deep hatred that goes back to all the way to England even before the English and Irish miners came to America, so the school system is very careful what they cover in history and order just to maintain some level of civility, very sad😢 the disaster that occurred in the Italian Hall Christmas party at the height of the strike still is a very touchy point with lot of the original families that were up here at that time and lost children in the disaster😢
There used to be a Collis P. Huntington Railroad Society (or similar named)which I understand used to sponsor a yearly excursion train that went,among other places,through Thurmond using I think a restored steam locomotive. I think it was supported by a former CEO or top executive of the Southern Railway.
I know a few in the area, but not a lot. Horses aren't allowed on the HM trails because of all the side by sides and ATVs. You have to take them out on outlaw trails, in the real woods.
After 1 morning hanging with Leo at the matewan massacre site my paycheck now goes to the ole divorce lawyer lol. That place is cursed. Haunted and anything else lol. Take a recording device listen to evp recordings that is my wallet that died a slow death lol. All joking aside I love matewan. Wingoes and lunch with the rides amazing times.
I was there in 1977 in national guard out of Parkersburg I was a medic I drove around with the chief of police at the time loved everything I seen great people even then have only been back 1 other time when my kids were little wva is heaven proud to be born and raised as a true hillbilly
I'm a history nerd & i love old & historic architecture. What a lot of history packed into a pretty little town. Matewan is a place i would enjoy visiting.
Leo y'all need to get in contact with Discovery or History Network. I can see and hope for a mini-series that educates people about what these hills have provided to the nation as a whole. It's unfortunate that West Virginia doesn't get the credit it deserves for basically creating the middle class in this county. Sid Hatfield literally gave his life for the cause. No one can tell the story like you two. Hats off from a fellow hillbilly from Kentucky. P.S I feel a road trip coming on to visit some of those restaurants you featured.
👍🏼👍🏼
One thing I really enjoy besides the stories, is how much I feel like Leo and Heather are authentic. My grandpa used to say "Be what you are, not what you ain't." Good advice for all of us. Be who you are. Most of us are still trying to get comfortable with that person, but I really like seeing authenticity in others.
Thank you. I agree, be yourself.
This video was absolutely fabulous Leo. Absolutely loved the history of Matewan. The movie doesn't do the massacre justice. Matewan is a beautiful little town. I have been all over WV except for Matewan. Such magnificent buildings and the plants are so decorative. Thank you so much for taking me along. Where is Heather????
Thanks! we dont always do videos together, shes usually stuck editing at home
@@thehillbillyfiles Thank you.
Matawan is a beautiful little town & full of history. Loved hearing the train & the whistle.
Thanks 🙏
My nephew has been riding the Hatfield McCoy trails since he was a youngster, and now he and his wife and friends take a week off and travel from NC to WV to ride the trails. They love it
My husband and I ( we are Canadians) were driving across the US and turned off the interstate in WV to get gas ( didn’t catch the name of the small town ) but it was so interesting - terribly run down but beautiful old brick buildings and brick roads - I always wanted to go back to WV because of that little town
It's a fascinating history. Like so many other things in the mountains, there's two sides to it, depending on which side you're looking at it from, and both sides were right in ways, and wrong in equally as many ways, like one big bar fight.
My husband is there right now on a riding trip. He was telling me about the massacre tonight. I had never heard of it so I’m here. Thanks for showing us around!
Hi Leo, enjoyed the video. Seems like a very quiet place so rich with history! The oldest building where I live is dated 1912. I was told it used to be a saloon. See ya take care!👍
Always curious about the coal fields my husband took me to Matewan about 20 years ago. It doesn’t look like it’s changed much in that time. Thanks for taking us along. I really enjoy your videos!
What a cool town with fascinating history. When i was working on a History degree in 1990, we spent half a semester learning about Matewan. I was lucky enough to have a great American History professor who felt strongly it was something we should all know about. I was in college in Colorado at the time, had always lived in the northern part of the country and knew nothing about it. It sparked my love, fascination and respect for this region and the men who worked the mines. Thank you so much for this tour! ❤
Very enjoyable video ! So much history! Thanks for sharing Leo !
Matewan is beautiful nice friendly people love this place we did a 4 day trail ride loved it I want to thank everyone can’t wait to come back
I loved seeing Matewan again, kinda makes me homesick. Mrs Nenni (her family owned Nenni's Dept store) was my English teacher at MHS. Thanks again Heather and Leo for your amazing videos and stories. ❤
Very neat thank you 😊
Love your videos I'm a real Hatfield and McCoys fan and love your history I'm from Ozarks of Missouri and sooo enjoy your videos be blessed ❤️
Love Matewan.. been there many times riding the trails and plan to visit there again in July.. appreciate your tour of the town
Thank you Leo for all you guys research. It is very interesting history. Nice Harley. God bless and stay safe
This was so interesting...I pray you two never stop bringing us these relaxing video getaways !! I enjoy them so much !!
Thanks Leo for the tour of the old town so very interesting and so much history
Very interesting town. I do enjoy the old buildings. It's like stepping back in time. I do like they left the bullet holes in the wall. I would love to take a trip there. Thanks, Leo.
I just love your walking tours of the small towns and the museums in your area, you present the subject matter in a very easy to understand format and frankly watching the video I can almost picture myself there walking behind you taking in all of the sights and sounds, great presentation you have a very good knowledge of your local history and people and you presented in a format that I do not need to go get my dictionary to figure out what you're talkin about, very well done😊❤ any idea where the other two miners that were killed or actually buried at? It seems that there names have been lost to history.
This was so great. I love history and of course Hatfield/McCoy. Love WV too. Took a bus trip there when I was young. You are right....Never heard of this. And I am 60 years old. Thank you for your videos.
These men n women were and are the backbone of true America ❤ your true history tours im a seeker of history use to exsplore ghost towns like Murray Idaho 70's it was real a gem now the greedy have moved in just not the same thank you
Great video, Leo. Sorry we missed Heather.
Enjoyed hearing more of the history about Matewan.
It's always better to hear the history of place when someone is from there or spent a lot of time there. Much more interesting when you hear more than would just be in a travel brochure.
God bless ya'll for all the time ya'll put into these videos.
God bless and stay safe.
Thanks to this vlog I'm making a trip next hear with my daughter. All based on this video. From New York City.
Another WINNER! Thanks so much for the History Bits
Thank you Leo this is absolutely fantastic historical information 😊
What!? No rain?! But plenty of trains. Great episode.
Love the history and stories, I might not ever see West Virginia so I'm glad to see and hear all the places you show😁🙂
My husband is a umwa man. He's been there many times. He goes every year. He will be there this Saturday I think for the reenactment of the fight. My husband was at the building the day they started building. When they lay the first brick. Wow them sidewalks and some building need a pressure washed. Bring them right out nice and clean. The whole town looks nice.
ol Sid Hatfield married the mayors wife, like 1-2 weeks after he had been killed. Story goes that Sid and the widow were caught in a hotel room not too long after the Mayor's death, and married after being caught to squash any trouble.
Yes we did a story about it
I enjoyed your video and tour of this historic, picturesque town, surrounded by such beautiful scenery. West Virginia is absolutely gorgeous! and full of history. Thank you Leo and Heather for bringing that history alive for us! Is Matewan an Indian name, or was it named for a prominent citizen?
Glad you enjoyed it, in reality I think it was named after matawan new york, though rumor is its named after a man's dog named mate. 😀 not sure which is true
That's what I have Rockbridge County va history in every mile. And so beautiful very blessed👩🌾🥰
Thank You Leo & Heather , was a great video !!
Looking at the old pictures and then flashing back to present time... I noticed more than anything how much dirtier it was back then compared to the lush thick green and clean clear air. Lol sorry but it just was something I noticed.
Thank you for the tour and Heather you really are doing a great job editing. Both of you are awesome ❤❤
Thank you for watching 🙂
I have pulled that little part out of the honeysuckle to get that drop of sweet nectar 😂👍🏼
Great tour Leo!!
What a awesome video, thank you Leo for showing and sharing this with us. I hope one day to come and visit with yall.
Stayed in the Historic Matewan House. Time well spent 😮 😊 Enjoyed the Trailhead B&G and met James Baldwin (Baldwin-Felts).
Yea we know james
The movie is on YT. Very good
I'm loving all of your videos and all of the information. I'm nonstop watching them. Is there a newspaper that I can follow or subscribe to? Thank you!
i love trains,i know all the rail road names, csx is ours, i love n,s, one of my favorites,,would love to visit there,
I watched
Mysterious WV
Cast Study: Matawan Massacre
I like the way y'all tell it better..
😮😊
Really good video thanks
My family were coal miners. Granpa died young. The ole coal miner doc treated everyone. You traded and shared food
Thanks Great Job
Good video Leo like all your other ones tell me is a reason or meaning that all the awnings on main st are green ? Thank you for this one. FRANK from montana......
I don't think there is a reason , thanks Frank!
Small town Virginaquaint quiet, and beautiful seanery
I always thought the 1913 copper strike in northern Michigan was the birth of the middle-class east of the Mississippi River. I have a suggestion for maybe how to get some of these graveyards cleaned up get in contact with the community resources of the county jail many times they have inmates that have to do so many hours of community service n cleaning up these old graveyards would be a very vital community service, it is worth looking into the worst they could tell you is no.
Leo,I get the feeling that there's more than one thing you haven't grown out of from your childhood!😊 (And that's cool! Don't ever grow up! Peter Pan says so!😂😂)
If I recall, the shooting statred in the rear of the Chambers Hardware Store by the backdoor.
Hi Leo!!
I love the train. Where I live I don't hear one. Miss it.might have to do a food road trip👩🌾🥰
My grandfather my uncle's my cousin's my dad all work in the coal mines that's all I ever knew growing up was coal mines
The fist time i have gone to W,V to ride we stayed in Justice . Have you done a video on that town .
Not yet.
I believe that Mother Jones was once imprisoned while having a serious health problem and was saved by a Hatfield who happened to have been a Medical Doctor who saw her in the prison (the imprisonment of course orchestrated by outsider coal company money)
also at least one and maybe more than one U.S. president sided with the coal companies in some of the union struggle and supported actual dropping of bombs on striking coal miners? (This action was somewhere other than Matewan I think) still besmirches these presidents
coal mining in Eastern Pennsylvania having already been unionized to some extent and perhaps the coal played out just a little bit when the rich coal reserves of South and West West Virginia came to the attention of Northeastern Money who were determined to create big operations in WV and keep the unions out? Did Pennsylvania have company owned coal miner rental housing towns and company stores/script?
I assume Pennsylvania did as well
Virgina besides having a rich history also has beautiful mou tains a d land scapes..
you need to do a story on the Bull Moose Special
I'll have to check it out
good videos Leo. new sub here. that other fellers videos he seems bitter about something 😮 oh well take it easy
Yeah, I know. Jealous hateful people will always be around. We may make a video about that too... lol
Sounds like he was using his dynamic brake, must be a good grade through there.
Unions have their place in some industries but not all . The coal mines definitely was #1 on the list of those that needed Unions . The automobile does not . The Railways don't either. Coal mining has to be the hardest and most dangerous job in the world .
Leo why don't you do a video on the traditions and superstitions of miners? Like in this video you mentioned about their dinner guests underground up here in the copper and iron of Michigan upper peninsula if you harmed one of your underground dinner guest,you could be fired on the spot, the old tradition was they rats and mice could since a roof fall or a bump before it even happened if you saw the rats and mice running it was time to get out then, up here the copper mines for pretty deep compared to the coal mines of the East, we hae the red jacket shaft that was 9.095 ft deep on a 36 degree incline, and you may have a ride of almost almost 30 minutes to reach the level you were working on that day, and the red jacket was part of a system of 18 underground shafts all connected at various levels with over 300 miles of active mine tunnels. All of these were on a copper seem that was about eight and a half miles long, all of the great Calumet and heckler miners lnc. The 1913 strike along with the Italian Hall disaster and a fight between the miners and the substitute workers brought in to take their places underground, called scrubs along with the mine bosses n Western federation of miners union devastated the copper industry up here and it never did ever recover to the level it was before the strike, unions can be a tool for positive change on one hand and then again they completely can devastate an community and the industry to support the community, two different sides to the same coin.
Good ideas thanks!
😊 what a pretty town!
I remember doing that as kid
Leo the school system probably does not teach it because it's still stars of quite a lot of animosity, same as the strikes up here in the copper country they do not teach it in the local schools sort of like a hidden history that the locals like to keep quiet, and believe it or not even from back to the 1913-14 copper miners strike there is still a lot of animosity and occasionally unfortunately people will find out whose family was a scrub that went to work with for the mine companies crossing the picket lines, and there still fistfights that break out occasionally over this, between the Cornish English the miners from Finland and from Ireland, there still quite a bit of animosity and self-imposed segregation from churches n bars and even to the graveyard, sadly there is still a lot of deep hatred that goes back to all the way to England even before the English and Irish miners came to America, so the school system is very careful what they cover in history and order just to maintain some level of civility, very sad😢 the disaster that occurred in the Italian Hall Christmas party at the height of the strike still is a very touchy point with lot of the original families that were up here at that time and lost children in the disaster😢
Very Cool ! 😎✌🏼
Thanks ✌
Are there any passenger trains that go through any of these town's for sight seeing.
Not really. Every now and then one will pass through.
There used to be a Collis P. Huntington Railroad Society (or similar named)which I understand used to sponsor a yearly excursion train that went,among other places,through Thurmond using I think a restored steam locomotive. I think it was supported by a former CEO or top executive of the Southern Railway.
Any civil war activity thru your area?
Yes, some.
Your town needs to cater to train enthusiasts. You would increase tourism greatly!
Matewan looks so cleaand kept uptown has been very well taken care of...
Matewan is an interesting name. I wonder where they got the name.
Question: do you put cole slaw on your hotdog ??? 😍
I Love Matewan you can feel the History
Any horse riders on the trails?
I know a few in the area, but not a lot. Horses aren't allowed on the HM trails because of all the side by sides and ATVs. You have to take them out on outlaw trails, in the real woods.
Love honeysuckle. I know what u did sir ahahhaah🎉
After 1 morning hanging with Leo at the matewan massacre site my paycheck now goes to the ole divorce lawyer lol. That place is cursed. Haunted and anything else lol. Take a recording device listen to evp recordings that is my wallet that died a slow death lol. All joking aside I love matewan. Wingoes and lunch with the rides amazing times.
It is cursed kind of
❤❤❤❤❤
👍
Is that train hauling coal?
All of the black cars are. The rest are freight cars.
Yes. 1
❤👍🏼👍🏼
I actually don’t mind the sound of a train, it keeps people with jobs !! ❤
Train 😊