Welch West Virginia: Heart of the Nation's Coal Bin

a person could spend months in the hollers and hills of appalachia specifically southern west virginia and southwest virginia but today's got me back in mcdowell county west virginia in a place called welch now walmart may have left town but the people who call this place home haven't [Music] [Music] i recognize appalachia is not just coal country but to understand this place and its people and to tell its story coal is very much at the heart of appalachia's story and welch well it's called the heart of the nation's coal bin like so many other places in appalachia flooding has really had a major impact on mcdowell county as you look around welch here you can see though some reinvestment like theater straight ahead and some of these other buildings but we're going to turn up 16 and follow it through welch this is also called wyoming street and up here on the right we're going to pull in so i can show you the historic mcdowell county courthouse [Music] this place not only holds significance as the county seat but some major triggering historical events took place right here on these steps you see that name most americans are familiar with the hatfields and mccoy's sid hatfield he played a pivotal role in what's known as the mine wars now sid was chief of police and is sympathetic to the striking minors and he along with ed chambers nearly a hundred years ago were murdered by coal company operatives under the guise of agents or detectives of the baldwin felts agency right here on these steps the agents were later acquitted these events led to over 6 000 men marching into logan county west virginia and what's known as the battle of blair mountain [Music] as we keep driving you'll see many abandoned buildings but don't be deceived this place was once called little new york in the 1940s and 50s in fact if you go back and watch episode one when i was in mcdowell county looking for that appalachian hauler and i show some pictures from that time period here you see the old classic union 76 gas station i've seen some remnants of these throughout the area most recently in grundy in buchanan county virginia in episode 2. we'll come back and head out of town following 16 there but first i wanted to circle through and show you the rest of downtown here if you look up on the right we're approaching a mural there's a couple of murals painted around on some buildings here that i think are worth looking at in fact back there at the union 76 gas station was one that i'll show you now [Music] mcdowell county and welch specifically is mentioned many times in the award-winning movie october sky about homer hickam and the rocket boys of west virginia welch is also the birthplace of television star and speaker steve harvey and up here on the right is the famous welch parking garage it was the first parking garage built in the united states back in 1941 about 20 years later john f kennedy gave a speech in front of it he targeted west virginia especially the coal fields and mcdowell to rally support and ultimately get elected and later on in the early 2000s the garage was renovated [Music] [Music] do [Music] let's head south now to town on 16 and go explore a little bit of the residential area around welch i'm curious as i'm sure you are too now earlier i said welch is the heart of the nation's coal bin but keep in mind just for a little perspective here there were no bridges hardly any wagons in this extremely mountainous area until the 1880s i mean at that time the main product was not coal coming out of these mountains it was furs and ginseng today welch is more of a service center for the coal mining region which includes pocahontas and the black diamond coal field but it really wasn't until the arrival of the norfolk and western railway in the early 1890s that encouraged the working the coal seams in the surrounding area we're gonna get turned around here head back into town i've got a few other things to show you [Music] [Music] i don't know about you but i'm fascinated with the buildings here in welch it does remind me so much of new york a long time ago just on a smaller scale i love some of the little side streets here and that's actually why i want to circle back around i know we've already driven over some of this area but just up here on the left is a neat little alley street i'm going to turn down because it comes out at a flat iron pharmacy store which is such a neat building there so let me show that to you now [Music] with the opening of mcdowell county through railroads allowing access to work coal seams an influx of immigrants as seen in other parts of appalachia began to happen you had different waves of immigrants coming here many were poor sharecroppers who found they could earn five times the daily wage in the coal mine as they could as a sharecropper in the fields this is why you also see appalachia as a very integrated region and it goes back to coal appalachia is unique in that it was a melting pot for so many diverse cultures seeking better wages in the depths of the mountains all shades of the human race made their way here let's head north out of town now on 16. i hear there's a place up here we can get some food [Music] that's a community hospital on the left [Music] now we're passing an old coors beer plant [Music] driving through this residential area has me thinking in the context of the history of the people that came to this place and the diversity that was here but at the same time how modernization and mechanization has changed so much and so many people have left and i wonder about the future of rural places and how technology may impact that moving forward will it bring people back will they reconnect with these mountain communities like the old saying with this rain coming down i hope the creeks don't rise [Music] we all pulled in here at the sterling drive-in diner this joint's been here a long time i hear they've got pretty good food rain's setting in really starting to pour so i think that's going to be a wrap i hope you've enjoyed this right around welch with me and if you are liking the exploring appalachia series let me know in the comments i'd really appreciate that and give these videos a thumbs up because ultimately that triggers youtube to know hey let's share this video with more people and i think that appalachia the people the places the stories here that's all worth sharing so i'd appreciate the help in that effort and thanks again for uh for watching this episode so if you'll excuse me i'm getting pretty hungry

Channel: Mountain Roots

Views: 572,221

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Id: WFVUgkQp0Jc

Length: 9min 59sec (599 seconds)

Published: Thu May 12 2022