Harlan

Today, we had a beautiful drive through the mountains, from Tennessee to Kentucky, via a little bit of Virginia. The scenery was breathtakingly beautiful, mile after mile of tree covered mountains. We stopped for some lunch in Cumberland, Harlan County, Kentucky. This had previously been a thriving small town, but since the demise of coal mining, it is struggling. Like a lot of places that previously had one main type of employment, it looks like it is dying a slow death. Let's hope that it can turn a corner soon, but that seems difficult in the present financial situation. We had lunch at Roseanne's Bear Crossing. It seemed to be doing a good job at feeding the local workmen, serving mainly fast food. It's only real attraction is that a large bear was caught on camera, casing the joint, prior to charging through the plate glass window to get to the food. Thankfully, it was at night and closed. You can see it on YouTube. The windows are no longer full length, and the section the bear came through is fully boarded up now. https://youtu.be/vFhTSaSL5wo
We only travelled a few miles along the valley to reach Portal 31. It is a really interesting opportunity to visit a Kentucky coal mine. We had the tour to ourselves, and our guide was very knowledgeable. He covered some of the main changes and developments throughout the 20th Century. From the low pay, terrible working conditions, technological developments and the fight to improve working conditions by unionising. The mine owners fought dirty to keep the unions out, even resorting to murder. Even now Harlan is called "Bloody Harlan" Men lost their jobs and homes for even mentioning it. Before unionisation, the miners were paid in scrip, they paid their miners in their own money, which you could only spend in the mines stores. Portal 31 is working on developing the attraction and it will be updated later in 23. One point worth noting, there are no bathroom facilities.Read more