POCAHONTAS , Va. -Pocahontas’s history is tied deeply coal mining, going all the way back to the 19th century. Generations of people living here have spent their lives mining it underground and transporting it above.
To honor their legacies, more than thirty years ago, Historic Pocahontas Incorporated organized the first ‘Coal Miners and Railroad Workers Reunion’ to gather those who dedicated so much of their lives to keeping the lights on and show them some appreciation.
“Coal mining is one of the hardest… and railroad working is one of the hardest and most dangerous things that is out there for people to do. There are so many stories that these men tell us of being crushed by rocks and almost losing limbs that this is something very important that we celebrate on Labor Day,” says Juanita Labroski, a secretary for the Historic Pocahontas Inc. and an organizer for this event.
This event has several traditions, including a free lunch, speakers, and a parade that goes through this historic mining town, with the coal miners and railroad workers in the lead.
We spoke to Troy Akers and Danny Williams, two people in the parade who worked together in the mines in the 1970s and rode together in the parade in 2024. They tell us this reunion is a way to connect with old friends and honor the friends they’ve lost.
“You get to meet a lot of friends and people that you worked with in the mines and stuff, all coal miners and railroaders…” says Akers
“…It’s like this, it makes you realize that a lot of your friends that you call family because you work with them, have died, so you try to really make the best of the time that you spend together while you can,” says Williams.
Labroski hopes this event will show the coal miners and railroader workers just how important their work is to the area and show them that the community still cares about them, years after they left the mines and rails.
She encourages those who want to learn more about the coal history of Pocahontas to tour the Pocahontas Exhibition Coal Mine, adding that without their work extracting coal, Pocahontas would not have existed.
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