Exhibition Coal Mine

I had such an amazing time on the tour for this coal mine. It’s just so legendary and something I have never actually seen before. You don’t just see it, you experience it. You smell it, you feel it in your bones. It’s even potentially dangerous, so you get the creeps. It is so West Virginia. I can’t recommend this enough — especially for a yankee like myself.

I was really impressed with this place. Makes you realize how hard the miners had to work with such horrible conditions. There is a train that takes you underground into the mine. The guide stops and explains the features of the mine and equipment used by the miners. Definitely worth the trip. You can also tour a home that the miners lived in. Also, the home of the superintendent.

Took my kids here over Labor Day weekend. It’s very nice, staff takes you on a tour every ½ hour. You get in train car that’s on tracks that take you down into the coal mine.
The guide stops a points along the way to point out features of the mine and equipment. Part of the «fun» of being in the mine is that it seems scary. It’s dark with bare bulbs lighting the way. The mine is cool and wet inside with water dripping on you along the way. The ceiling height is low, even when sitting so if you are really tall, watch yourself. We walked around the other exhibits, it was interesting to see how little the miners pay was after all the deductions from their pay like rent and provisions. Also interesting were reading the
«Rules» for both the teachers and the students in the school house. The children’s museum which is included with your ticket was ok. Seemed to have almost nothing to do with the coal mine theme. But my kids had fun playing. The children’s museum also had a brain teaser exhibits that kept us adults occupied. It was totally fun watching all of us big people frustrating ourselves trying to figure out the puzzles. We never got the balancing the nails one and had to get one of the staff to show us the answer. Total cost for 2 adults and 2 kids was just over $ 60. I thought it was worth it.

If you want to experience the mind-​blowing contrast that a trip to West Virginia offers, take the bunker tour at the posh Greenbrier Resort in White Sulpher Springs with its upscale shoppes marble halls and Dorothy Drapher décor and then take this coal mine tour, in which you experience real darkness for a few seconds and learn how men, including their young sons, earned a living chipping away a coal layers, never standing from the time they entered the mine until they left to go home at night. You’ll know what the late Tennessee Ernie Ford meant by loading 16 tons– what each man was expected to produce in coal each day. See the little shacks that bachelors and men whose family lived elsewhere stayed, and the drab shack that a family lived in as compared with the lovely home of the superintendent. You take a tram into the mine where you see the equipment and mines first hand. We sat toward the back of the first car on the side closest to where you board, and that was fine. The guide, a former miner in our case, stopped the tram twice and spoke once on each side. We stood up for his first presentation to see over the heads of the people on the opposite side to see the equipment he discussed and that seemed to be fine as the tram was stopped. This tour was made more poignant by the fact that the day of the event, the CEO of a mining company was going to trial, being charged with ignoring safety procedures resulting in the deaths of 29 miners.

This was something I’d long wanted to do; my wife & I both enjoyed it. Very friendly staff, including the tour guide who really knew his stuff and was happy to answer everyone’s questions. The people who put all this together should be proud-​very well done with very nice exhibits.

We stopped here with the children on the way home from Matewan, WV and really didn’t expect too much. Boy, were we surprised! We spent 5 hours touring the homes and coal town exhibit and the children were engaged the entire time.
The trip underground was impressive and informative. Mommy and the children really enjoyed it and learned a lot.
The retired miners went out of their way to make the children feel special. It was a great time.

Visited the coal exhibition last week whilst staying in WV, defiantly worth the visit! Nice that they do a Military discount on the entrance fee. Our tour guide Larry was brilliant very informative and had a great sense of humor. Was quite chilly once under ground so a sweater or a blanket is a must. The tour it’s self lasted 30 minutes, once it’s over you can take a look around the camp they have set up, which consists of a church, school and houses which are all set up to what they would of looked like for the community.
Myself and my family agreed it was the best part of our trip!

Stopped here during a road trip to Cincinnati. So glad we did! This is a «must see» in West Virginia. There is an interactive kid’a museum, a coal mining museum, replica structures (church, miner’s house, super’s house) that you can tour. Our trip into the coal mine was very fun. The tour guide «Roger» had been working in the mines for 28 years. He was so enthusiastic, funny, and interactive. We learned so much about a coal miner’s daily life! They offer a military discount. You can wear flip flops, it gets colder in the mines (60 degrees on an 80 degree summer day) but I was fine in shorts/​tshirt. Stop here — you won’t regret it!

Did not take the coal mine tour. I had made reservations for using the camping area on the property. When I arrived was told the cost staying per night tripled.
When I replied with what was told to me at reservation the 2 women in charge of reservations that day told me that the person who booked my reservation was mistaken. Unfortunately the person who took my reservation was not working the day I arrived and the women working that day were completely uncooperative or non-​empathetic. I am surprised to read the other reviews about the cooperative staff. My experience with the two in the general store was horrible. Basically two crabby old ladies.
I told the women I would not stay at the campground and found better arrangements at Shadyside RV park.
Based on my experience I would not go back and camp or patronize the coal mine exhibit

Really quite good. The mine tour is interesting and the guide was great. The rest of the facility had points of interest around life in the past. The kids experience was really good as well. Well worth the stop. Took us about 2.5 hours with a 4 and 7 year old. Both enjoyed it.

Great tour. I’d always known about coal mining and the tough conditions faced by miners, but this tour was great to see an actual mine. Enjoyed the your guide and also liked walking around the other exhibits. Don’t forget your jacket for when you’re in the tunnel.

This is a cute little museum that takes you on a tour of a coal mine. I personally thought 20 bucks was expensive for the tour but it is what it is. Also, as I sat on the tour I could really tell that young and old people really enjoyed the tour. A few of the people on the tour actually had coal miners in their family and it was interesting to hear stories from their perspective. The actually tour of the mine is about 30 minutes but there is way more to the exhibition than the mine. There is a museum that teaches you about the life of a coal miner and other buildings on the property that you can explore including a children’s museum.

The reviews are what prompted the visit, and I’m a bit let down, Unilocalers.
While the coal train portion of the tour was interesting, the presentation was very canned and tired. Our guide was adorable and undoubtedly spent a few too many hours in the mines himself. His routine was funny at times and definitely informative, but it felt like a Disney production, not really a deep dive into the operation and ultimate demise of this mine. To his credit, he solicited questions frequently and I was fortunate enough to have a fellow tourist ask many really good ones.
The above-​ground attractions aren’t really anything special. There, I said it. Maybe this is sacrilegious to those in the community, but I would love to have learned about coal mining’s history and changes over the years. What I learned was that single men had very little space to live in, the site foreman had a relatively nice house that now has a post office mock up and a barber shop on the second floor, oddly, and that their houses were well-​appointed.
Admission is a little expensive for what you actually get. And, tours run behind, so don’t plan a day around this without plenty of buffer room.

From Montana to Arkansas to Maine you see trains and barges carrying coal from mine to powerplant. Stand on any bridge over the Ohio, Missouri, Illinois or Mississippi Rivers and a tug with coal barges will soon be by. Where does all that coal come from?
Imagine yourself reporting for a shift at the Beckley Mine. The tour starts when you climb aboard the replica mining cars. Our tour guide was thoroughly knowledgeable and had an authentic West Virginia dialect that was an audible treat. A battery-​powered tug pulls your car horizontally into the mountain. The tug is made out of parts similar to a forklift: big lead acid batteries and intrinsically-​safe motors. There is permanent electric lighting throughout the mine. During the thirty-​minute tour, you stop at points where the docent describes tools and equipment used to grind coal out of the hillside. The docent describes mine safety from canaries to MSHA. At one point, our docent lit an Acetylene (calcium carbide) lamp and turned off all of the electric lighting in the mine. The mine shafts are about five feet tall. Miners worked on their knees, laying on their side, or bent over.
The museum has an upper-​crust visitor center that is air conditioned on hot days. There is a rail car from the Upper Branch Mine on display. There are areas designed to entertain children. Many buildings describe area history. You could easily stay for two hours.
Parts of the museum may be unreachable for people who are mobility impaired. This is West Virginia and the mine is – by design — on a hillside. The visitor center is easily accessible.
Think about the clock on your microwave oven or the charger for your cell phone. Chances are good a part of the base load electricity to these items comes from coal.

I visited the Exhibition Coal Mine yesterday and had a great experience. The tour guide, ladies in the little buildings and little old man (who was 96 y/​o, worked & attended school in the coal mine with Senator Byrd) in the school house were very knowledgable regarding Coal Mining history. Luckily the trees that fell from the June 29^th derecho storm did not fall on any of the historic buildings. Great experience. They even have a Youth Museum for the little ones and a community pool nearby.