Mapping Mine Memorials

The Official Coal Miner’s Memorial for the Commonwealth of Virginia is located in Richlands, Virginia. The Coal Miners’ Memorial Committee and the Richlands Area Citizens for the Arts first erected this memorial in 2002 and called it the The Richlands Coal Miners’ Memorial. When the Virginia General Assembly met in 2009 to discuss the designation of official emblems for Virginia, they declared the Richlands Coal Miners’ Memorial was ‘The Official Coal Miner’s Memorial for the Commonwealth of Virginia.’ The memorial wall includes around 1,200 names of miners who died while on the job in theVirginia counties of Tazewell, Russell, and Buchanan. Also included in this memorial, in front of the wall, is the statue of a coal miner carrying his pickaxe and a lunch pail on his way home after his shift.