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Coal Towns/Stonega, Virginia
Originally organized by the Virginia Coal and Iron Company in 1890, the village of Pioneer was the first successful local attempt to produce coke. By late 1895, the nation's severe economic depression had lifted and VC&I began work. Within months, the flurry of activity had opened one mine, started construction on 500 beehive ovens, and initiated a rail line from the mine to Appalachia . By the next spring, Pioneer had become known as Stonega, more than 100 coke ovens were operational, and several single-family houses had been built.
In 1902, the recently formed Stonega Coke and Coal Company leased the coal and coke operation from VC&I. By that time, the colliery included more than 400 buildings, most of which were houses. In addition to the mines, coke ovens, coal cars, and the town itself, SC&C also leased the timber rights to the surrounding hills and remained vested in the local timber industry until 1924. In the years between SC&C's acquisition of the operation and World War I, Stonega expanded eventually reaching 666 beehive coke ovens, four operational mines, and about 700 homes. At the same time, the town had an estimated population of 2,400. Within that number could be counted approximately 500 blacks and the remainder mixed between native whites, Hungarians, Poles, and Italians.
In the years between the World Wars, Stonega changed radically. Foreign born workers stopped coming to the southwestern Virginia mountains, choosing other work in different locations instead. Also, the overproduction of the 1920s combined with the Great Depression to effectively put hundreds of Stonega's miners out of work, although the mines there never completely shut down. Despite the average of 800 men worked in the Stonega mines during the 1920s, they were already in decline having seen their best years during the first two decades of the 20 th century.
Considering the age and population of the town, it remains in relatively good condition. After crossing the railroad tracks at Mudlick Creek, visitors enter Midway and then the main part of town. The church still stands on the left and after crossing the tracks for the second time, a row of original houses can be seen still standing along the right side of the road. At the end of those houses, you enter the center of town, originally known as Park Place . While the commissary, hospital, and theater which sat on the right side of the road are now gone, the impressive management houses still stand in good condition on the left. After crossing the tracks for a third time, visitors find themselves on an abandoned stretch of road for nearly a mile. At one time, this was the heart of the colliery where the coke ovens stood along with the carpenter's shop and bathhouse. Driving further, the few houses that remain are only a small part of the original settlement. Now flanked by a large, ramshackle building that once served as a black school and meeting hall and the church, originally built for black residents, the handful of homes were only a fragment of a community which pushed another quarter mile into the hollow.
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This page last updated: April 5, 2005
Maintained by: Dr. Brian D. McKnight
