Matewan, W.Va. (WVDN) — The West Virginia Mine Wars Museum is proud to announce the launch of Phase 2 of Courage in the Hollers: Mapping the Miners’ Struggle to Form a Union, a groundbreaking public history project that commemorates one of the most significant, yet often overlooked, chapters in American labor history.
With generous support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities—and with strong local enthusiasm and ongoing partnerships in each community—the Museum will expand the project to six new sites across four southern West Virginia counties, bringing history back to the places where it was made.
Over the next three years, the Museum will create permanent monuments and historic markers along the 50-mile route of the 1921 Miners’ March to the Battle of Blair Mountain, the largest armed labor uprising in U.S. history, and in Matewan. Once finished, the Museum believes this will be the largest labor history driving trail in the United States.
New Commemorative Sites
The six new sites will be located in:
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Charleston (Kanawha County)
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Racine (Boone County)
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Madison (Boone County)
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Clothier (Logan County)
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Logan (Logan County)
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Matewan (Mingo County)
Each site will feature a combination of large steel sculptures, murals, interpretive signage, and interactive audio features designed through an inclusive, community-based process. The monuments will highlight stories of interracial and interethnic solidarity among coal miners and their collective struggle for unionization and basic human rights in the Appalachian coalfields.
In addition to the physical monuments, the Museum will release a companion podcast, maps, original research, and an interactive website to expand access to this history for audiences nationwide. Public meetings are expected to take place in Spring 2026, and those interested in attending are encouraged to sign up for the Museum’s newsletter at wvminewars.org.
“We’re so excited about this expansion, ensuring that the people who live in these communities have a space where their stories are told by, for, and with them,” said Mackenzie New Walker, Executive Director of the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum.
“While we wish Blair Mountain could be part of this next phase, property ownership there is more complicated, since much of the land is privately held. Our hope is to one day bring this project to Blair and other communities, building on the success and excitement we’re seeing right now.”
This project builds on Phase 1 of Courage in the Hollers, which laid the groundwork for commemorating the Miners’ March with permanent sites in Marmet and Clothier, dedicated on Labor Day Weekend in 2022. Phase 2 builds on that success, further illuminating West Virginia’s proud role in American labor history. The full commemorative trail is anticipated to be completed and open to the public by May Day (May 1), 2028.
For more information about the project, visit wvminewars.org or contact the Museum at info@wvminewars.org. For more or high-resolution images for print, please contact Shaun Slifer at shaun@wvminewars.org.
