West Virginia Route 10 My Favorite Places In Appalachia

One of The Most Interesting Roads In Appalachia

I have spent many hours and miles along West Virginia Route 10, primarily as a door to door vacuum cleaner salesman.  But I also lived for several years in Logan and Williamson, West Virginia, and drove up and down the road for leisure also.  And it is a fine road for leisure driving.  Every mile of it lies within Appalachia and it can take you from Huntington on its northern end to Princeton on its southern end for a grand tour of many different aspects of Appalachia including Huntington's urban Appalachian environment; Lincoln County's transition from the coal fields to the city;  the coal fields of Logan, Wyoming, and Mercer Counties; and the border country around Princeton & Bluefield where West Virginia ends and becomes the more rolling country of Western Virginia.  There is no finer place in Appalachia to spend a long weekend or even a week of slow driving, stopping, picture taking, and self education about the people and the land of South Western West Virginia.  

Just a few days ago, my wife Candice and I took a three day trip to Beckley, WV, to celebrate our twenty-fifth anniversary and a significant section of that trip took place on West Virginia Route 10 between Logan, WV, and the Mouth of Huff Creek just up the Guyandotte River above Man, WV.   This was my first drive on the new section of Route 10 which is being reconstructed into a four lane highway.  That construction project gave me very mixed feelings.  I had begun this post several months ago and left in unfinished for a variety of time-consuming reasons.  I wish I had finished it while readers could have had the option to drive the old, winding, cliff-hanging version of Route 10 that I will always remember fondly.  If you have never driven Route 10 and have a summer day left free, take a few hours or a few days and drive as much of Route 10 as you can while it is still its wild, wonderful self.  Climb onto Route 10 wherever you can within driving distance of your home, flip a coin and turn north or south and head to the Ohio or Virginia border.  You will love the trip.  If you happen to drive the section between Logan and the Mouth of Huff Creek, I would suggest that you take the time to drop off the new, four lane section and drive whatever portion you find still in existence between Stollings and Man.  That road clings to the cliffs above the Guyandotte River and bangs your elbows against the mountains as you look down now and then on the river far below.  It might not be Highway 1 in California but it was a fine piece of country road in its heyday.  I will miss it and so will many others who enjoy a drive in the country when you can see the red buds and dogwoods lighting up the mountains and almost smell the ramps hiding in the leaf mold in the high elevation coves near the ridges.  Or drop off I-64 in Huntington and head South to Chapmanville and Logan and take that slow trip along the Guyandotte River through West Hamlin and past Little Harts Creek and Big Harts Creek, slow down as you drive across the river at Peck's Mill until you meet the four lane at Logan.  That is a wonderful drive through some of the best, most authentic portions of West Virginia.  Get to know it while you can.  You will thank me for it. 

Logan County West Virginia My Favorite Places In Appalachia

Logan County West Virginia

Logan County holds a special place in my heart for a variety of reasons.  I lived and worked there for about 5 years in the 1980's.  I developed a core group of close friends in Logan County as well as several attachments to particular places in the county both for personal reasons and, in some cases, due to the history of those places.  Blair Mountain is the most important place for me in the county.  It is also one of the most historic places in the history of the American labor movement.  That story is told in several books.  Bill Blizzard, a former writer for the Charleston Gazette, wrote "When Miners March" which is based primarily on first person accounts from his father, William Blizzard, Sr., who fought on Blair Mountain with the miners in their struggle for union recognition and reasonable working conditions.  The elder Blizzard and several other miners were actually charged with sedition, treason, murder, and a variety of other charges and tried in a historic trial in Harper's Ferry, West Virginia.  That trial resulted in acquittals. Robert Shogan also wrote "The Battle of Blair Mountain", which is less than perfect but generally accurate. There are also several other books about the incident.  The Battle of Blair Mountain is one of the small number of occasions in American history when the U. S. military was used against citizens.  Several hundred miners marched up Cabin Creek out of Charleston toward Logan and were met by hired gun thugs under the supervision of Sheriff Don Chaffin who was a minion of the coal companies and led their efforts to control coal miners and their families through a variety of techniques ranging from simple intimidation to murder. The company gun thugs had set up fortified positions near the ridge line and the miners fought for several days from behind trees in an attempt to move on to Logan.  No one can be sure today how many miners were killed in that fight and it is often asserted that far more were killed than were ever officially enumerated.  During the battle, most of the fighters on both sides were wearing similar clothes and it was difficult to tell enemy from friend.  The miners tied red bandannas around their necks to differentiate themselves from the gun thugs. That action is the root of the modern epithet of "red neck".  It was not originally a negative name.  It was a proud recognition of men who had placed their lives in danger in order to fight for the UMWA.   Recently at a memorial for Bill Blizzard, Jr. mourners came  to the service wearing red bandannas. 

Until about 20 years ago, there was also a fire tower and fire watchers cabin at the peak of Blair Mountain which had been built by Civilian Conservation Corps members during the Roosevelt Administration.  That cabin burned during a forest fire in the 1980's.  Eventually, when fire prevention and observation services were changed and modernized the fire tower was also torn down.  When I lived in the area, I would often go to the top of the mountain which could be reached by a dirt road off the main highway.  I would climb the tower and look out over the mountain and wonder how many miners still lie undiscovered and unburied on the mountain.  Those men both unburied and buried deserve a memorial fitting to the bravery they exhibited during the battle.  Blair Mountain is now owned by one or more coal companies.  But it would make an ideal park and historic site if the funding and political hurdles could ever be surmounted.  It would make an ideal park and convention center under the auspices of some consortium of organized labor, educational institutions, and private foundations.  I believe it is unlikely that it could ever be established as a part of the state or national park systems.  The political resistance from big business and the coal industry would be intense.  However, if an exploratory group from the above mentioned groups could be formed, the work of putting the issue in the ears and eyes of the general public could begin.  Blair Mountain Memorial Park would be a wonderful idea. 

Logan County is also the site of the Buffalo Creek Flood which resulted in the deaths of more than 130 people when Pittston Coal Company refused to repair a damaged and heavily overloaded coal slag dam in the head of Buffalo Creek. The best book about that incident is "Everything In Its Path" by Kai T. Erikson.  In a more recent book, "A New Species Of Trouble", Erikson writes about man made disasters and once again discusses Buffalo Creek at length. There are also several other books about the incident.  Logan County played a historic role in the labor movement and Buffalo Creek is a classic case of the general public suffering at the hands of big business. 

Logan County is also the site of 22 Holden which was one of the worst coal mine explosions in history.  I will eventually write longer, separate postings about each of these historic events.  Each of them deserves to be written about, discussed, and never forgotten. Throughout and following each of them, the people of Logan County and Southern West Virginia used native Appalachian values to overcome disaster.  The general public deserves to know far more about those incidents. 

Logan County was also the home of Jim Ferrell, the best friend I ever had.  Please read my separate posting about Jim, an Appalachian Hero. 

Logan County also played a prominent role in the Hatfield-McCoy Feud which has been used as partial justification of much of the prejudice and discrimination toward Appalachians.  Logan County is also the site of the Hatfield Cemetery which holds the graves of most of the members of the Hatfield family at the time of the feud.  It is worthy of designation as a state historic site.   

Statue of Anderson "Devil Anse" Hatfield In The Hatfield Cemetery