Once... home sweet home...now just vanishing places... and empty spaces... with broken windows, open doors, falling cellings... and rotted floors... A church... just down the way... where the faithful... would go to pray.... asking the Lord... to show the way..... There it sets waiting.... for the Winter snows... the Spring thaws...the Summer days... and apple blossoms... as life finds a way... for another day.... in Jewell Valley.... Time marches on. Thanks for the tour...much appreciated my friend.

Lived and worked in Buchanan County several years ago….Big Rock, Hurley, Slate Creek, Harman, Breaks, Grundy, Tookland, , Big Prater, Dismal, Pea Patch,Jewel Valley, Whitewood, Oakwood, Garden Creek, Drill, Fletcher’s Ridge, Bee, Council, Big Fox, Lovers Gap etc. Usually, if someone told me their last name, I knew what section of the county they lived in. Today, I can close my eyes and drive each area as if it were yesterday and remember special experiences or landmarks in each community.. Good memories

You failed to mention, or perhaps didn’t know, that all the flooding that led to the original town of Grundy being largely removed and replaced by a mega Malwart, was pretty much caused by all the strip mining there. When you tear off the mountain tops and don’t properly fix the ruined landscape, you get uncontrolled runoff and flooding far worse than it had ever been.

I just found your channel. I'm a hillbilly born and breed and when I die I'll be hillbilly dead. My heart and soul will remain in the mountains that I love. My grandpa worked in the mines around Coeburn and Herald. hard, dirty, dangerous work. Thanks for documenting our beautiful hills and its history.

As someone that lives in jewel valley, thank you for showing the natural beauty that our area has and telling the story. Also, it’s definitely haunted. Everyone here has a ghost story, probably in their own home

Thanks for the trip, I lived in Keen Mountain when I was little. The Post Master, Tom Looney gave me a five dollar gold piece and taught me to play golf.

That little wave to an approaching vehicle....a true sign of southern hospitality. This is beautiful country but it seems like it would be difficult to retire to due to lack of resources. Us old folks need to be close to a decent hospital and it looks like a lot of that would take driving an hour or two to get to anything. It would be interesting if you could show these areas on a map and give some perspective on the geography. Thanks for the insights and great videos!

I was born in Grundy in 1952. My father's family made their home in Grundy for generations. Elswick, Buskirk, Williams are some of our family names. My aunt's home was flooded multiple times. Her house was next to the river/creek that flooded many times in my memory. My parents home was in Po Town. We moved to Alabama when I was 6 so my memories are few of Grundy, but I've always loved knowing I was born there. Thanks for sharing this video.

Love your channel. As a rust belt (Appalachia-adjacent) kid, these are familiar towns and scenes. Many towns are turning to outdoor recreation to bring some form of economy back. I hope the generations that left will start to come back and revive the region a bit. These mining families built the country and should be recognized more.

This is absolutely one of my favorite things to do in PA.. So many remnants of the past around coal country. This series is great.

So sad to see the abandonment, so much history in those old buildings. Oh... A 3 story Walmart? That's just crazy!

I'm a resident of Tazewell Co VA. Did some years incarcerated at Keen MTN... neither here nor there, but regardless the county from all SWVA and S WV is truly God's blessing to us. Appalachians are a rare breed

I lived and worked in Buchanan County for almost 10 years, coal mine inspector, the building at 3:28 in Keen Mtn. housed our offices. My area included Keen Mtn and Garden Creek all the way over to Honaker. My 1st two years was in Hurley, a very interesting place. I would suggest Council in Buchanan County and Haysi in Dickinson County. My Mom was born and raised in Skygusty, WV (McDowell County) the community was named after her great, great Grandfather (Capt. Henry "Old Skygusty" Harman)

i love long drive, back roads and discover places and things along the way.

Our ancestors lived in Tazewell, Virginia which is in the southwest part of VA. We drove all around virginia and west Virginia to find documents, cemeteries and businesses that our grandfather and great grandfather worked at. Mainly coal miners or brick makers.

My Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop Bragg lived in one of those houses you show in Jewel Valley, initially up on the "hill" just past these you video. I'm not sure, but I believe that there were only 3 houses up on that "hill" then. I was just a baby to about 5 yrs old when they lived up there, in the late 60's to early 70's. Then moved into one of the houses on the road you are traveling. We used to visit every year, usually in the Summer months, until my Mom-Mom passed away. Many, Many wonderful memories of this Valley!! I miss hearing the Locomotives carrying the coal cars just behind the house! I would just stand there and listen to that awesome rumble it made as it went by! Many wonderful and kind people I have in my memories! Picking blackberries with Mr. Godwin on the side of the mountain, and even having him and his wife help pull a loose tooth out with sewing thread as a child. Love these videos! I search them all of the time because they bring back such great memories for me! Thank you!

My family is from Logan County. Watching these videos is like going back to my grandparents when I was a kid. Thanks for the videos!

I like how the roads in the abandoned ghost town look better than the roads in my town where new construction is always happening

I live in Buchanan County and I work as a coal miner

Thank you for another informative and well made Video. My Father also worked a long time in Jewell Valley . I grew up in Big Rock which is around 12 miles from Grundy and near the Kentucky line but still Buchanan county. On my 12'th birthday we moved North to Manassas, Va because Daddy got a job in construction where he could make about five times the money as he was making as a coal miner. His name was John Henry Mullins and although we moved, he told me one time he loved working in the mines and i knew the only reason he moved was so he could take better care of his wife and six kids. It wasn't easy growing up in the forties and fifties down home, but i loved every minute of growing up there. Daddy worked in the mines in the forties, fifties and sixties. I will always love Big Rock, though i haven't been back there in decades now.

Thank you for shining a light on our beautiful Appalachia! It's so refreshing to see positive and professional reflection on those beautiful mountains and people. Although life has taken me to the midwest away from my home, Appalachia runs deep in my blood and watching your videos makes my heart smile. Keep up the great work!

I am loving this series you’ve started!! Such history in these mountains, hills, and hollers. The visual experience you’re providing in these videos is unreal!!! 😍

These are places most people have never seen or even heard of. I thank you for brining them to us. This a testament to the pluck and resolve of the Appalachian people. We can be a stubborn and tenacious lot. Again, thank you sir for this series.

The ghost towns always make me feel sad when I think about the people that lived and died there. Really beautiful country, thanks for the tour! Just subbed, great story telling and exploration!💕

I have family in Grundy, Dismal, and Oakwood. Had a few uncles and cousins that worked at Jewell Smokless😎🇺🇸

Thanks! Reminds me of my Grandfather’s town in eastern Ohio. He was also a soft coal miner and, as I remember it, the town was moderately prosperous at the time. I can’t imagine what it looks like today, but I have fond memories of spending summers in the woods, creeks, and hills there as a child. It was there that I first learned to swim in McMahon Creek (crick), taught by other kids!

Nice to see my hometown featured. Born and raised in Buchanan county. Moved about 9 years ago. I come home every few months to visit and it’s always such a hauntingly beautiful visit.

OMG!!!!! This one was insane!!!! Soooo good!! I felt like I was right there with you!!! The visuals/audio were perfect 🥹🤩🤩

MY MEMORABLE VISIT TO A TRUE GHOST TOWN (year 2000?]: I will never forget, when sometime around the year 2000, I was introduced to “the ghost town” in Jewell Valley by my husband’s father whose family worked in the mine and lived in that mining town. I grew up in a big city and was enthralled by everything I saw…truly a ghost town! The mine was still visible in all its ghostly crowning glory. All the houses were still standing one after the other along the road. I remember that in between some of the homes there were brick furnaces which provided the heat for the stretch of homes between the furnaces. The mine workers’ homes were a standard, common build: white ranch homes with a porch. The condition of the homes were mostly just overgrown (MUCH BETTER than your video depicts). I wanted so badly to go inside the vacant homes, but I preferred to let any snakes be undisturbed. Then, there were the larger managers’ homes scattered along various elevations on Brown Mountain (a.k.a Bearwallow) . I saw the company store which, for me, had an interesting story….The miners’ only access to purchasing market goods was the mining company’s store, and the purchases were deducted from the miners’ pay (now, THAT is what is called a true monopoly). My adventure through Jewell Valley included a personalized tour with my husband conducted by my husband’s parents. We were in Jewell Valley visiting with his kin and the last remaining family in Jewell Valley (the Hackworths). Then, in 2022, the devastating flood buried Jewell Valley and my husband’s 2 family members who were trapped because the access to the ghost town of Jewell Valley was inaccessible. One of the homes was an original mining company home and the other was a manufactured home next door. Nearby family members successfully trecked their way in to save those two family members. The manufactured home actually floated down the flood. Those last remaining cousins now live with other family. I feel so fortunate to have found your video. I think I have video of Jewell Valley when I was there sometime in the year 2000.

That's where I live in Buchanan county in Grundy that's how our life was it breaks my heart to know about everything is all gone

Thank you so much for sharing these often overlooked parts of West Virginia with us. I greatly appreciate the honesty, the honor and dignity that you show to your state and her people. Keep up the great work!

Grundy is where my Dad's family's from. They lived way the heck back in the mountains. The family grave yard is up in the mountains. I remember it taking all day to truck in my aunts coffin. Some parts required a backhoe the road was so bad. From there it had to be carried in. History stands still in some of these mountains

for DECADES, I have been drinking out of that EXACT SAME blue lid bottle while working outdoors !!

Absolutely the best video I have seen! Husband was the first warden at Keen Mtn. I can't believe how grundy has changed, for the best in my opinion. Flooding was a big issue when we lived out there. We lived up Vansant at Garden Creek. Sure miss that beautiful place and the wonderful people. Thank you so much!👍❤

Some of my family live in Grundy My Grandfather and Dad worked there

I am from Tazwell county Virginia Mill Creek Holler 😎.... went to school in Richland's Virginia.... Always my Heart is There....

This is my hometown ❤ I’m just 23 so I grew up pretty recently in these parts. I was just around 6 years old when they started the process of putting Walmart in. I was 11 when it opened.

Great job on everything. Melts my heart. Feels like I am right there with you. I think it's about time to go visit myself. Keep bringing us these awesome stories. Love, love these series you are doing.

We have a lot of abandoned coal town's in southeastern Kentucky. we also have a lot of old abandoned home's also people die off and leave them and their families must not want to live in them. It's sad.

I lived in lick creek Kentucky, I drove threw Grundy VA on my way to "back side 30", a cute little town, and now I live in Michigan, a vastly different state, still much rather live back in the hills

I’m from Hurley Virginia and its still 20 years behind from where i live now in Oklahoma

Born in Richland. Went to kindergarten at vansant . Lived in grundy the first 6or 7 years of my life. My 4 older sisters went to GHS. I still remember the big golden wave painted on a cliff. Lots of memories. Thanks for the trip home. I miss it

Personally I'm a country girl from the Shenandoah Valley, but in my 20s I moved to Richlands, Russell Co. Spent time in Jewel Ridge camp, and I came to love these good folks, Later to Grundy, and back. Loved my experience ♥️

That school bus belongs to my husband’s family. They used it for hunting. The sounds you heard were probably from my husband’s family who were the last remaining Jewell Valley occupants from the mining days. Because his family owned their own well, they were not evicted by the mining company. But everyone else left and Jewell Valley ghost town was named. My husband’s family worked in that mine, and his Grandfather White and Uncle White lost their lives in that mine. The mine owned all the homes, and upon the mine’s closure, all the residents were evicted unless the resident owned their own well. And that is how my husband’s family remained in their home after everyone else left and it became a ghost town.

I'm from Haysi, Va and now live in GA. My sister lives in Raven, VA.

I was born in Boomer WV in the 60’s. We moved to Florida when I was an infant. I remember my childhood summers in the 1970’s when Mama and PaPa would visit us in Florida. They would always take my sister and I back to WV with them to spend the summer. We would stop at MaMas sisters house in Cabin Creek VA. The memory I recall the most was their outhouse and how frightened we were to use it.

Buchanan county born and bred lived in Grundy and Hurley all of my life

That was towhee singing. They sound like a rusty swing and look similar to a robin.

I've walked through every one of those houses in Jewell Valley. You also look very familiar.

Geeze, You’re posts are brilliant. Superb. Thank you.

One of my uncles taught history and geography at Hurley High School in Buchanan county.

I could tell by the intro, I needed to subscribe. I'm here for the ride.

I found your videos when searching for coal miners, etc. my Grandfather worked in a coal mine in Western Pa., for 45 years. The towns you’ve shown are very similar, along with the coal mining stores.

This series is very interesting. I hope you continue with it 😎

My wife, who grew up in Buchanan county, seems to think the "Hell" house in question is a former bath house.

Jerome, Arizona is an old copper mining town. It's fun visiting there and looking into the holes carved into the hillsides. They are gated off so you can't get into them, but it is still interesting. People do live there. About 500 of them.

Hody is gonna be proud to see his swinging bridge on your video! Can't wait to show him

Great video. it makes me want to go and explore the jewel coal camp. The melodic music is weird. I'd like to see Inside some of those places and hear interviews with people who once lived there

Awesome video, Ty for sharing with us.

While stationed in Germany in the military in the 90s had a kid in my section named Spit ( he chewed all the time) from Grundy, when he got paid he would buy model cars and other toys ,I always figured it was because he didn't have much as a kid

My one memory of Grundy, Virginia goes back to the early 1950s when the town had a golf course with sand-greens (most people have never heard of such). I was taken there by Dr Okey Glenn, our drug store owner and pharmacist from Williamson, in Mingo County. I had caddied for Dr. Glenn at our nine hole course (the only golf course in the county at that time) located in Sprigg, where I had lived from the age of seven. We drove over in his large 1953 Cadillac, still remember the tires would squeal in every turn, driving along the mountain roads toward Grundy. It was a beautiful drive thru the green hills... A happy face in a happy place... when I was young, and so was life, my life. Thanks for the video... thanks for the memories.

Great story, thank you for sharing this with us ❤

Thanks for the video. I come from western PA down to Buchanan work on Keen Mtn at a small gas power plant. I usually stay in Grundy or Pounding Mills. It's a different way of life down here but beautiful.👍

Love this series, Josh. Great job!

good informative narration, ive wanted come to this area to live for years

I was born into grundy. I remember a time before they added a two story Walmart and a food city my papa would go to.

I was born in Grundy and grew up in those mountains. I remember heavy flooding, especially with dramatic spring thaws. By a series of circumstances, I’ve ended up in NJ and it’s like a backwards universe to me. At 54, I still work twice as hard as guys half my age and guys I work with comment on my work ethic and honesty. I say it’s just how I was raised but I’m coming to realize it’s largely WHERE I was raised. There’s a grit to surviving in those mountains. Folks from NY, NJ, Boston know about the grind, but the mountains forge character. An interesting side fact-Grundy High School has one of the most elite wrestling programs in America. A wealthy coal mine owner had 3 boys into wrestling so he built a training facility and gave the school a large trust fund for the wrestling team.

my family is from here.priceless Grundy and Hurley

Outstanding work. Also really familiar as I am from southeastern KY, about 75 miles from Grundy, with a very similar landscape, culture and history. Lots of coal camps still stand but others are long gone and driving up those old roads you wonder how all those people managed to live and work there all that time. It’s all so different it’s hard to even imagine in some cases. I have heard about Grundy for years but never made it into Buchanan County. The father of my best friend in high school was from Grundy and had been a kid there in the 30s. He ran an insurance agency in southwest Virginia’s New River Valley area for decades. His son, my friend, wound up working in military and then commercial satellite engineering. Homer Hickam wasn’t the only “rocket boy” story to come from Appalachia.

It sounds spooky. Almost every place somewhere has some ghosts .

Amazing work. Love the history

Worked and stayed in Grundy. Penn Line installed the guardrail on the new road through town. Installed guardrail when the town was being remodeled too. Our company also did some seeding and mulching there too. Stayed in the older motel on the left coming into town. Ate at the pancake house / diner on the right in town .

The swinging bridge, that was my Uncle Bob, his house was up on the left side.

If you are looking at a (non topo) map, and trying to get to Marion/Wytheville from the Ohio area, you might look at Grundy and see it as a shortcut, like I did forty years ago, dragging a travel trailer from Seattle to start a new life in Appalachia. ( don't ask.) I don't know if the coal trucks that run down that mountain still do that at Nascar speeds, or if the roads are better than they were then, or if negotiating those hairpin turns in the winter with barely adequate brakes is any better now, but I will tell you this: I will never forget Grundy.

The original coal tipple / prep plant, church, & company store were all torn down when Jewell Smokeless bought the property and put 2 mines in. They've since sold out. I explored this whole area thoroughly before Jewell purchased and tore everything down. It was quite an amazing site, but lots of very weird things happening. That has all calmed since the removal of the above mentioned structures. Great vid thanks for sharing.

I love this station first time I've ever listened to it

Thank you for sharing!

BEAUTIFUL in the 70s

I just moved to Grundy and I know that whistle you’re talking about. We hear it out in the woods all the time. Doesn’t really freak me out, I grew up in a very haunted area of New England where paranormal activity is just the norm.

My mom was born and raised in WV. She had Appalachian pride.

Interesting and well narrated.

Great history and beautiful video! Cheers!

Heading to Buchanan County today. Haven't been home in years.

i have never been overseas and the landscape is like those wrong turn movie series. thanks

Thank you so much for this series - enjoying each and every episode. Ghost towns exist all over the world, so why not here, right?

Truly enjoy these videos. I live northern WV very close to the Pa line!

I miss my family in west Virginia.

One place I never feel uncomfortable being anywhere or going anywhere, and that's West VA, because this is my homplace.

Love watching n Sup from Kentucky

Interesting video. I'm from Clintwood in Dickenson County Va, which is right next to Buchanan County. Some crazy coal history in both counties.

Wallace long mined alot of Grundy Virginia my great uncle Luke Rogers worked for him until he passed away

My family roots are in coal mining in Buchanan County Virginia Tazewell County Virginia...sad but true

Very wise final statement.

I love your narratives. WVA & VA are pretty different then Northern New England, but there are some things that look familiar to me. Thanks for sharing.

I Love hear the History!

Interesting history of Buchanan County coal mining yet I find a 3-story Wal-Mart every bit as colorful!

My mom grew up in a coal camp called Glo in Floyd County, Kentucky. I suspect it looks a lot like this place now.

You should have seen Grundy before they destroyed the town. There were many small businesses and now there just don't exist. The buildings were torn down, it's very sad.

I always knew there were mines littered all across Buchanan county and some old remnants from them but it wasn’t until I started going to every corner working on gas well roads that I seen just how much landscape was changed and how old buildings and vehicles are just left to rot. Definitely a different side of Buchanan county I wasn’t used to seeing

Wow it's looks like a Ghost Town buti it's Nice to watch never been ther thanks for sharing. From Arizona