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Exeter
Originally the site of one of the Stonega Coke and Coal's lumber operations, Exeter was built and opened for mining in late 1917. Two years before, the timber again drew the company's attention and a sawmill was moved there from Arno . The mill remained in operation until the early 1920s. With a handful of houses built for the lumbermen, the town began to take shape after the mines opened.
By 1920, the company had built 150 houses, a church, a school, and the tipple, on a site separate from the original logging community. That original village became known as Lower Exeter, while the new town, which stood opposite the tipple, was simply Exeter , named after the exclusive New England preparatory school where many of the Leisenrings and Wentzs sent their sons. The town of Exeter housed white workers, while Lower Exeter stood near the site of the original saw mill and was mainly populated by blacks.
Overall, both Exeter and Lower Exeter had 300 houses and an estimated population of about 900 during the middle 1920s. The geographical division of the town also helped answer one of the day's social calls. Whereas many coal towns were segregated by race by a small creek or a street, the races in Exeter were more clearly divided. However, this division was certainly difficult on the town's black population. Initially, the company operated individual commissaries in both sections of town, but after only two years, the Lower Exeter store closed forcing its customers to walk more than a mile to shop.
Like Derby , Exeter was built as a model community. Detailed landscaping combined with community planning to place neat rows of houses in the hollow along with plenty of room for public buildings including a large commissary complete with mine offices on the second floor, white and black schools and churches, and a theater building that not only showed various films, but also served as a general meeting hall.
Despite its initial prosperity, Exeter struggled through the Depression years. In the summer of 1932, the Stonega Company closed its operations at Exeter and Dunbar . Although the Exeter mines closed, the miners remained in their homes and worked abbreviated schedules at the company's other mines. The 1940s and 1950s revived some of the town's earlier wealth although the ensuing decades saw the entire industry weaken.
Today's visitors to the main town of Exeter see a very well maintained coal town with many of the houses still standing. Although the Methodist Church remains, the field across the street once held the other public facilities. They are long since gone. As for Lower Exeter , it still exists as a small community lying a mile east of town.
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This page last updated: June 19, 2005
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