KEOKEE, VIRGINIA
But what is interesting about the town is the fact that Stonega Coke and Coal rebuilt the Keokee coal camp in 1947 to house the families
of the miners of their newly opened Glenbrook mine. Though Stonega sold most of the homes, as opposed to renting them, they probably represent one of the last times that an
Appalachian coal company constructed housing for its workers.
SOME OF THE LAST COAL COMPANY TOWNS TO BE BUILT IN APPALACHIA
1934-Wyoming, WV
1937-Keen Mountain, VA
1938-Kopperston, WV
1940-Lynco, WV
1940-Burson/Braden, PA
1940-Marianna, WV
1942-Republic, KY
1946-Raven-Peerless Mine, Nicholas County, WV
1945-Wharton, WV
1947-Munson, WV
1947-Keokee, VA (reconstructed)
1947-Barrett & Clinton, WV
1952-New Camp (Pound), VA (only 10 houses for management)
1968-Hunting Hills, WV (homes sold, not rented, to miners' families)
1981-Buchanshire, VA (Evidently Island Creek Coal never actually constructed this town that they planned to build.)
Jan. 2007 image by author
Former Keokee Coal and Coke Company store in Keokee, Lee County, VA. The coal company closed the store in 1930, three
years after the last coal mine at Keokee closed. The beehive coke oven plant, probably the only one ever in Lee county, probably also closed at that time. And then most of
the Keokee coal camp was demolished.
Image from Ed Wolfe's book "Coal Camps, Tipples, and Mines"
Photo of homes being constructed by Stonega Coal and Coke Company in Keeokee in 1946.
Image courtesy of Everett Young
From a late 1940's brochure about the Glenbrook Mine.
From a Keystone Mining Catalog via Google Books
The original Keokee coal camp before it was torn down and rebuilt.
Virginia Coal Heritage Trail image
This structure was originally the power house for the coal mine at Keokee. Apparently it was later converted into a theater.