Mapping Mine Memorials

The Coal Mining Heritage Park and Loop Trail is located in Blacksburg, Virginia, on the same land that was once home to the Merrimac mining community. This large memorial park opened in 2000 after around a year of planning and construction from various groups, including the Radford University Foundation, the Radford University Department of Sociology and Anthropology, the Montgomery County Office of Planning, the Coal Mining Heritage Association of Montgomery County, the Radford University Center of Experiential Education, and the Radford University Public Relations Office. This park includes mining equipment and some plaques that point to where specific buildings would have been located before the Merrimac mines closed in 1935. The organization called Pathfinders for Greenways organized volunteers to construct the loop trail, also called the Huckleberry Trail, in 2010.

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