Abandoned Coal Mining Ghost Town in Appalachia
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- Опубліковано 24 сер 2024
- Coal Mining Ghost Town Abandoned in Appalachia: Jewell Valley, Virginia in Buchanan County. Once a thriving coal community, Jewell Valley has fallen into ruin as residents abandoned the area leaving scores of abandoned houses, creating a haunting atmosphere. There's no cell service or GPS access in the area due to its remote location.
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Shane, I spent a lot of time in this area, in the 70's - 1986. About 1/4 of a mile before the block store in your video is a blue house that my Grandfather Bethel Logan (wife Pearlie) built (someone else said the Hackworths live in it now) it is still standing and in good shape. I always remember the water being so strong with the smell of rotten eggs but my grandparents were used to it and always drank it with no problem. About 2 years ago my sister and I took our dad and aunt on a drive through of Jewell Valley and we learned so much more about the area, (when we were kids we really didn't care), it is so beautiful in the summer, still creepy but so green and peaceful. It would be so wonderful if you could find someone who grew up in the area to go back there with you and give you a real tour and you do another video. I have so many wonderful memories of Jewell valley, Sunday dinners at my Grandparents, picking up pop bottles on the side of the road to turn in at that little store for candy, snakes always laying in the road to warm up, the church my Grand parents went to (Pastor Jimmy Cole) and going to the beauty shop with my Grandmother to get her Beehive hairdo.
👍
I have always lived in Arizona and I've always wanted to visit VA & WV. Well, I finally got my chance last Summer. I didn't have a whole lot of time, but I was able to drive some back roads. What a beautiful corner of world you guys live in! I could see lots of problems, what with the coal mining back in the day and now, fracking, But's it's the same wherever you go. Out here in Arizona, we don't have enough water and we surely have too many Californians! I'll tell you what. I'll say a prayer for just enough clean coal mining to come back to provide decent wage jobs for the locals [no outsisers, if you please!], and you can say a prayer for all those Cali folk to think to themselves "ya' know, I really do miss the beach!" Before we know what's going on, it'l be breaking good for all of us!
Amazing.
Awww I love this!!!! What a great little tidbit ❤
Melissa?
My great grandma was born and raised in jewell valley Her name was Mary D. Jewell before she married my great grandpa William Vance York i lived their for a short time back in 2012 to 2013
wow... barely 10 years ago and so much is in the ground already... glad that Shane is recording the place... greetings from Vermont
There.. thank you.
I knew the Jewell Family in Whitewood, my Grandma was their housekeeper and cook❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Frances Meadows
I can remember my DAD working around the coal tipple that you drove past. I went to the company store to get a pop and candy bar. This area you were in , people knew each other and watched out for each other's children. It was so beautiful. I remember Mom and Dad going to visit family friends up there and we would play until dark. There was a swimming hole up a dirt road we called "the jewell Valley dam". Families would go on Sundays and take a picnic. So much fun. It was a wonderful place to live.
AS YOU MAKE THESE VIDEOS--BURN A COPY TO DVD AND GIVE TO LOCAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS.
My mom lived in Jewell Valley for several years when she was a child. They moved to Whitewood which is where I grew up. The cinder block building is not the company store, it was a garage of some kind and there’s were apartments upstairs. The company store was huge, there was a movie theater, drs office, and a church in it and a restaurant called the grill as well. I still have cousins that still lives up there. You were never in the coal camp completely just maybe on the outskirts of it. The company store was completely tore down. The first you house and the church you show is not in the coal camp. The houses that had the white siding were in the coal camp.
My grandparents had a convenience store in the cinderblock building in the late Seventies and early Eighties. When the camp was abandoned, they had to close shop. It was used as a rental property thereafter.
I get different stories from different people, the houses at the end were in the White Camp or the Woosley (not sure if that is spelled right) Camp?
@@realappalachia yes, you spelled it right. If I am not mistaken (and I could be) the name was pronounced as "oozly". Not definitely sure, but I think that is what my Grandmother told me. She lived in the Jewell Ridge coal camp, as did my Mother, for many years before moving out to one of the Ridges. Many of the Woosley's, were good friends with her. So many beautiful stories from her, some sad stories and lots of funny ones too. It sounded like a good place to live. After moving to Richlands in 1960, she always missed "up on the mountain" as she called it.
@@brendalane4228 my kindergarten teacher was named Ms. Woosley at Richlands and it was pronounced oozly. I bet her husband was from over that way.
@@brendalane4228 I knew Jody Woosley. He was 2 grades behind me at RHS. Such a sweet guy.
That wasn't the old coal store however it was store at some time as well as a garage. My grandparents lived in the house beside it and where my mother was raised. My uncle lived in the apartments above the store/garage there as well. I work in the coal mines...and used to drive through everyday working for Jewell Smokeless, SANW, Revelations, Black Jewell and Rhino to name a few! Good video tho and was a first from your channel! Definitely will check out more!
This is a special treat for me. My family lived in Jewel Valley for a while before we moved to Doran, 1949-50. Have always wanted to know what it looked like.
I can actually remember when people still lived there. A nurse my mom worked with at Grundy Hospital lived there with her children. I remember it was pretty run down then. That was around 81 or 82. It makes me sad when I pass by there.
Grew up in Buchanan county, Virginia at Big Rock. My Daddy John Henry Mullins worked in the mines there. Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I miss my old mountain home. Haven't lived there since i was twelve years old back in the early sixties, but will never forget it. Thanks for this video.
Glad you enjoyed it, love helping bring back memories like that
My dad was raised there. My grandpa was Henry Jewell. He and my grandma Bertha Jewell (Pruit) lived in or around that area a long time.
My papaw worked for Jewel smokeless for 50 years. He never was a part of the Jewel Valley community but is proud of the time he served for that company. He just turned 90 and is still goin strong!
people that worked at Jewell love it, he must be a stud still hanging in at 90, that is awesome
@@realappalachia worked there 37 years not 50, my bad.
The gray weather with the gray dry brush and all the wood is gray adds to the spooky factor.
You guys shoot these videos like the 2 scariest Scooby Doo characters ever , go round back , go inside , pull in a door , get in there !
The complete lack of convenience store / fast food / beer can type garbage is amazing. It's all you see in the abandoned places of Florida.
Shane the coal camp known as Jewell Valley was down from the area you are looking at. The Company Store was much larger with a supermarket and clothing store,furniture store and even a grill aka a small restaurant. There was a gas station a doctor's office, post office and even a movie theater at on time. There was a beautiful large white building that was the Jewell Valley Presbyterian Church. The church had nice hardwood floors and beautiful colored glass windows.
do you know if that Presbyterian Church is still there? Usually churches are the last thing to go and I love to see old country churches. Thanks for the info.
So sad. As time marches on, towns like this are forgotten about.
very true
Those are really well made old houses and structures, its amazing how square and durable these buildings are,,,its awesome what Gods, people can do, have another blessed day brothers
I remember a time when all these houses had families living in them. Seems not long ago, but I guess it was. When I was born we lived in Whitewood. The water was always sulfur water. The smell was like rotten eggs, it rotted your teeth really fast as a young child and there was no way you could drink it. Sad to see all these places abandoned.
my grandmother had sulfur water in her home, I can still smell it and taste it in my mind...shew.
That's what those white pellets in the bags are for I think
Hi from Australia, have been watching all your vid's and they are great, this one is spooky yet sad and full of history, Love your stuff and keep these vids coming they are so interesting and as i am in Australia it gives us alot of looks at the USA we would never see, Thank you.
That is fantastic, thanks so much for the kind words and for watching. Hope things are well in Australia.
@@realappalachia Thank you so much for your reply, we have alot of covid but hasn't everyone. LOVE YOUR VIDS. sorry to hear you had covid but it is great you are better now.😎🦘
My mother was raised here.My grandfather was an electrician for Pittston until about 1980
Once... home sweet home...now just vanishing places... and empty spaces... with broken windows, open doors, falling cellings... and rotted floors... A church... just down the way... where the faithful... would go to pray.... asking the Lord... to show the way..... There it sets waiting.... for the Winter snows... the Spring thaws...the Summer days... and apple blossoms... as life finds a way... for another day.... in Jewell Valley.... Time marches on. Thanks for the tour...much appreciated my friend.
Great stuff, thank you, Raymond
Love the comment, you have a way with words.
I live in doran bottom Virginia,and have and now own the old cash register that thay use to use in the old company store there jewell valley!!!!!
That's awesome, I'm originally from Doran myself. If you ever decide you want to sell that cash register give me a holler bc I'd love to have it lol. That's an awesome score.
@@realappalachia I do know you and your late dad to.jackie ray wants it to put it in the raven coal miner's museum in raven.and yes I do remember you when you were just a kid,up in the we call the sinks,right above my home here in the bottom.you dad had bought it way back,and I think it was 98 acres.but you and your dad were back there deer hunting,I don't think you had a gun with you at the time.you dad saw me but didn't say anything about me hunting on his land,and the way I looked at it back then and now you dad was really a nice and great man.i did kill quite about of deer back there then,but I always gave it away to someone I knew that they would eat it and use it to feed there family with.as a matter of fact I still do the exact same thing now,but now I have our food pantry to give them to now!!!!!
@@realappalachia 2
Just imagine when all those houses had families in them?
Thank you for your video , as a member of a coal mining family out of eastern Tennessee I do understand the troubles that families went through and are still going through. 👍
My father grew up in Jewel Valley and still lives up the road in Whitewood. His parents owned both the church and the store that you visited.
The wind is actually fitting to the situation.
That place is my home and was home to many others through the years, you should call it a nightmare or say that it would haunt your dreams greed is the reason that place is empty
I’ve spent many days and weekends down there, “down home” My mother lived there with her entire family. I’ve got some awesome memories being down there with my family.
Love these videos brotha! A fan from Attica,NY
My grandma lived here in the 1940s when she was a little girl. My great aunt (her sister) was an author and her work is based on their lives growing up there. Her name is Ruth White. I found your video after reading her book “Little Audrey” which talks about life in Jewell Valley in great detail. It was written for kids/young adults, but if you’re interested in the town I suggest you read it!! So cool (but also haunting) seeing this piece of my family history. One of those houses could have been the exact one they lived in.
@@Kacie-l8u I’d definitely like to see that book. I’ve known a lot of folks from Jewel Valley with very fond memories there
Thank you so much for taking the time to do these types of videos I really appreciated because some of these towns you go to I have never been there before or even heard of them 💛
glad you like them, Abby, thank you
Alright back to the Dark abandoned Appalachia! Sad but interesting Thanks.
I was born in Buchanan County, in Grundy Va in the lower & upper Mill Branch hollow, my dad also worked in the Mines and he drove the coal trucks. Some of my brothers worked in the mines too.
Great video. I would only ask that you leave the really scared guy in the video at a Cracker Barrel gift shop and then come back for him when the video is over. He seemed to distract from the video with his intense "hey, maybe we should leave now." or "yeah, let's not go in that one, it looks too scary."
Agree!
dying laughing over here
As late as 2002 most of Jewell Valley's houses were still standing uninhabited.
I love seeing these ghost towns! I just imagine seeing these communities alive with people and how they looked when new. I did have a weird dream in 96 where I was walking through downtown Fort Worth and I was the only person there. No cars, no people, just newspapers flying everywhere in the wind. I was disappointed when I woke up from that dream. I really wanted to get back to it and find out why all the people disappeared from there. I have a fond love of places that used to be, looking at videos like this. This was so interesting. I never could figure out what that dream meant🤔
thanks for the comment, I have some strange dreams too
I just found your channel and subscribed.Going back and watch your other videos.You do a good job explaining everything.Thank you for taking the time to make these videos.God bless.
thanks so much and God bless you too
Keep documenting, eventually this will be the only way people can see these historical towns beyond emptiness
I recommend you take a look at Donnie laws on UA-cam. He talks about the Appalachian people and their way of life. Best dam storyteller on the net.
Heard the name, we'll have to check him out sometime
so ccol. the lack of cell service adds a creepy factor to it. good job man
Cool and creepy. My mother used to get her mail at Jewell Valley but didn't live near "downtown" lol. I have some scrip from the Jewell Ridge Coal Corp., where my grandfather worked for a time.
my grandfather worked for Jewell Ridge Coal Corp too
@@realappalachia Wow...that's interesting. My grandfather would have retired due to bad back in the 1940s, I believe. He opened a tiny little store near Jewell Valley.
Good to hear you today.
Can't believe the truck and bus are still there, I might have to go rescue that pick up truck.
Glad you brought a buddy.
Great timing in this episode for me. I’m offroading this weekend in Jewel Valley and Jawbone area of Virginia. Staying in War, WV.
yeah you will literally be right there, safe travels
Sad just sad we see that even way back we started the throw away society. It's a shame that nobody even cares, but now we have documentation of a town we have lost. Thank you Shane for your outstanding work on the collection of these dying places.
If you think that is bad. You should visit a cemetery. When people aren't visible, just as with towns, they are thrown away. Then. it hsppens to each of us. I think of he'll as a museum of sorts, where even the most derelict of us gets their life documented
I just went back and watched some footage I have from about 4-5 years ago when I first started and was floored at how many buildings, etc. from that footage are gone in just that amount of time. I am trying to create some sort of record of them. Thank you.
@@timothykeith1367 that is why I will be cremated and my ashes are to be scattered on a certain mountain near where I was raised.
@@BFTEgodswarrio5939 Been thinking the same way. I'll be part of the mountain then.
Clinchfield Coal had a blue F unit I saw it in Erwin Tenn at the Clinchfield yards at the locomotive shops in the late 70's.
Thanks Shane, another great video. You be careful in them old ran down shacks , I'am glad to see you took a side kick with ya.
I don't usually go in unless I have someone with me, shew, too dangerous these days
Love your videos, Like you I love to check out old towns where so much history lye, If only they could talk?
I had family that lived and worked in the mines in that area...sad too see areas disappearing..thank you for sharing
Yes it is very sad to see. Thank you for watching
Very brave men right there, worked in that area for years....never know what is getting made in them old homes and buildings, I'm just saying
aint that the truth
A few miles east is Rt. 16 the best motorcycle road in the state. I'll have to stop by Jewel valley on my next trip there.
I do believe you're talking about the Back of the Dragon, bet that is fun to drive
Back of the Dragon? My husband and I Road our motorcycle on that a few times , beautiful country!
Once the roof develops leaks, that's the end of the place. It looks as if that happened in a lot of these homes. The metal roof places have held up better. The East side of Detroit doesn't look any better than this in some parts of it. Hard to believe it's America.
Enjoyed replay thanks for sharing your channel 😀 👍🏼 😊
Thank you so much
Just found your videos. Thanks for sharing. These little towns they had to leave because of water contamination.. Usually from the mines.. So sad.❤🇺🇸
Thanks for watching
So sad 😭 to see those towns die
I agree
That little town doesnt look any worse then the town I live in right now outside Pittsburgh pa. !!
Good thing, you were walking around the houses, in the winter months. That place looks like copperhead city.
There are a lot of abandoned homes and properties in that area and Alleghany County. I'm from that area. Hope to see more from Buchanan and Alleghany (Covington, Clifton Forge) area.
I lived in that "Hell" house as recently as 2019... sure went downhill fast but the rent was reasonable
I hear it is a helluva place to live ba-dum-tss
Are you serious????
WTH?
I grew up in the next county. Interesting stuff.
Wow! That place was scary as all gitchey-goomey! I would've been scared to death to walk in or around those old houses! Please be careful Shane & I'm glad you had a sidekick with you on this trip! Now I know why I pray God's protection over you! It was kinda interesting though, but sad to see such horrible decline of a place. I think of all the homeless folks & why some of these places couldn't be fixed up for people who need roofs over their heads. Oh well. Just my old brain thinking. Never heard of this place before, just like so many you show us. Thank you for another visit to a very interesting, yet spooky place! I enjoy them all! Be safe & God bless & keep you always!
My Granny and Granddaddy lived in Miller Yard... another town lost and abandoned from the railroad moving.
Had to smile and laugh when you mentioned kudzu aka the vine that ate Virginia😆
Fell through the porch in one of those houses while videoing a few years back, lol. Such a cool place.
I bet that was a lot of fun lol, I stepped on a lot of loose floorboards myself
Depressing? Dude in 40 year's people are going to be looking at our abondon stuff and our graves
Boy if walls could talk . There would be some interesting stories to listen to.
So true
I remember all that real well used to travel that way a lot '
Hey there just came across your video .. I love it and I have family who live in Coeburn VA which is in Wise County another coal mining town that looks so run down and ghostly.. was wondering if you can do video of that town ..it's right next to Grundy,Va .I love all the stories that come from these small towns ...
That is a crying shame. I wonder if any of that is for sale?
Beautiful
Was it when Kodak spilled chemicals in the water?
I enjoyed this video.My grandma's lived in Jewell Valley and a çouple of aunt's lived there for years.I spent time there as I grew up.I would like to see more video àcross the road from the store, That is where my Grandma lived in the house on the corner
Glad you enjoyed it
I always wonder about the people who once lived in these abandoned places and hope they succeeded somewhere else. Thank you for the video!
i have that same feeling, thank you :)
Ditto
The store is not the company store the store was owned by Victor sparks
This mostly woosley camp were store and church was I grew up in the coal camp below there was called white camp. Company Store on below the camp . I left there in 1965.
Thanks for that info, this Sparks store must be the one someone told me was still open in the 1980s, I'm guessing. How far away was the White Camp?
White camp is the White House’s you walked through at the end
@@realappalachia I was raised and grew up in Jewell Valley what part was white camp. In it's heyday there were some really nice houses in White camp. As you start up in the camp there is one home that is still there and the lady that lives there is Zelphia Hackworth and her daughter, Pam Hackworth.
The homes that I lived in had hardwood floors and we had radar heat. There were about10 really nice houses in the lower part of White camp and at one time there was a large boarding house that housed miners and teachers that came to Jewell Valley to work in the mines and teach at the Shorewood High School. As I was saying in the 1950's, 60's and 70's there was a large company store that was a large block building where they had just about anything you would want nice clothing dept. a super market and a grill or small resturant. In the 50' & 60's there was also a doctor's office with a nurse. There was also the Jewell Valley Presbyterian Church. It was a large white building with nice hardwood floors, and beautiful stainless windows. This is where my family went to church. There was also a theater there too but I don't remember it that was before I was born. My daddy worked in the mines in Jewell Valley that was located up above the camp. My daddy was a boss at one of the mines and one Sunday he had to go and fire boss in other words he had to make sure it would be ready for the miners coming to work on Monday morning. I went with him one Sunday and rode one of the mine cars back in the mines with my daddy. I would go anywhere with my daddy and never be afraid even though it was pitch black. I guess I was probably about 7 or 8 years old. I can also Renner coming home from school one day to find my daddy lying on the sofa having a hard time breathing. He and a few other men had been trapped for several hours back in the mine from a rock fall. But God heard my daddy and another man John Kennedy's prayers that day and rescued them. I am sure all of them probably prayed but my daddy and John Kennedy were both Christians that I knew. I have many childhood memories of growing up in the coal camp in Jewell Valley. My name is Dorothy Elkins Cantrell but my nickname is Dot. My parents were Grant & Myrtle Elkins and I had two older brothers, Bob & Jimmy Elkins. The part of Jewell Valley that I grew up in was completely torn down except for only a few houses along with the Company Store, Doctor's office, post office, movie theater, & Presbyterian Church.
Whitewood
Remember
The store was owned by Vick Sparks and the company store was down the road by the post office
I Don't See it as Creepy & Not All that Depressing. I Dislike Seeing Homes Fall Apart But Jewel Seems Like More of a Temporary Camp than a Town that was Meant to Grow.
Eye's from this hurr part of the Country (Harman, Virginia). Ye best be cautious when ye approach whut ye thank ta be an "abandoned" house in this area. Jest as ye git close ta the front door, hit could bust open and ye'll be a' starin' down the barrel of a 30 aught 6.
Too bad they didn’t record further down. The beginning was in whitewood. There’s an old country store further down the road on the same side as the row of houses. We used to live in one. The red one was our great aunt and great uncles. There was a very old auto salvage yard further back too. Good chance it’s still there grown over. Lived there around 1973.
Surprised Hollywood hasn’t snatched this town up for some apocalyptic movie.
Looks like a nice place to live if you’re retired. I would like it there.
People worked so hard,companies made the millions,the working class were used up and discarded,companies took the wealth and ran off, the working class fended for themselves,another generation of working class begins,a new company start’s up and the cycle starts all over again. Then the company shut down for good and all is forgotten. Remnants of the past stays behind for future generations to wonder what life must have been like back in the day. CWA
A lot of the old coal camp houses will burn down more than collapse. I was a firefighter in Bishop Virginia in my younger years and we fought a many of those coal camp fires in the surrounding tazewell/McDowell County communities.
The ones here thankfully are gone because they were torn down.
I can imagine how that would be, one match and the whole area goes up in smoke especially with how remote they are and far away from fire depts. I am sure you're absolutely right about that.
Enjoyed this video. Just subd. Thank you.
Awesome, thank you!
like the vid. great vid. have a great day, sir.
Thank you!
This would rival the blight of Detroit and Gary.
You boys be safe out there, lots of crazies!,
Interesting video. I wish you had looked in the church windows.
Have family living in that area, and some of them worked for Jewell, including mining being done on land thay my Aunt and Uncle owned, where they were paid royalties to mine on the land!
The red painted house belonged to my Uncle's, by marriage, brother when I was younger. It's been since about 1974 since I last stood in that house.
Do you know who owns the land the other houses sit on? I would like to get permission to metal detect if I could get it.
@@davidkingery7146 not sure! My Uncle's brother and his family have died or moved from there. Who owns land now, I couldn't tell you, other than the coal company, themselves.
that is amazing, glad to hear from someone I "know" who is that familiar with the area
I just found your videos I really enjoy them keep up the good work and I appreciate the time you spend on these
I been binge watching them all lol
@@scottranger8909 thank you so much, Scott. I know how that binge watching goes, I've gotten sucked into a couple of channels myself like that lol
@@realappalachia I find the Appalachian area Intersting. Sad to see towns and cities that were once thriving now almost gone. I grew up in a small town in Ohio called Galion and it was once a thriving town with 2 big factories and then the late 80s to early 90s they left. Sad to see
@@scottranger8909 I've heard there's a lot of similarities between these industrial towns, whether they be coal, steel, etc. They were what built America but seem to be almost forgotten and dismissed these days. Kinda makes you wonder what Silicon Valley might end up like someday. As crazy as that sounds now, everything seems to have its day and purpose then life moves on down the road.
Would love to live there, in a modern day house ofcourse, thank you for sharing and have a blessed day
The church has a power meter attached and light bulb on the porch. What is the building/house next door to the church. it would have been interesting to see in the windows of the church.
Has happed so many times up there.
‘Love Don’t Live There Anymore’... 😟
My cousins were the Blevins Family
Visited that store many times
I live in VA so may check it out sometime.
You may want to research the Jewel family with regards to Jewell Valley Va
Thank you for the video
Somebody's been taking care of the grounds around the store and church or else it they would be surrounded by wilderness at least as bad as hell house.
That’s so sad, wonder what was in the water? I loved the old house with the white porch and tin roof ❤️
That was my childhood home
@@kimberlygross.7170 really?
33Yryrryyr we rr=r3r3rryr333r33rr3yr3yr3yr3yr3y
@@scottwiseman8015 ??????
@@scottwiseman8015 looks like you died at the keyboard or just wanted to be the one weirdo to comment on this great video. you win 33rry
These abandoned buildings might seem the perfect place for illegal activities. Cooking meth etc. It is sad.