The Museum’s founders were very much aware that a large majority of mining communities around Appalachia and, indeed, around the state and nation no longer exist. Many individuals who grew up in these coal camp communities now have sons, daughters, and grandchildren who have grown up hearing the stories about what life was like in the coal camps. However, for many of those people who want to share that coal camp experience with their own children and grandchildren they cannot go home again, because so many of the state’s mining communities have been abandoned and torn down. It was with this thought in mind that the Museum’s collection was assembled and is housed in the wonderfully-restored Benham company store.
The goal in the development of the Museum, was to tell the story. It is the story of coal in Kentucky, and the story of the thousands of workers, most of who came from the Deep South and Eastern Europe to escape poverty, and build a better life for their families. Their stories are told at the Kentucky Coal Museum, perhaps as well as they are told anywhere in the world.
Follow-up: http://kycoalmuseum.southeast.kctcs.edu/about_us/index.aspx