Bruce K.
Yelp
This marker is near the bridge over the Powell River and calls out the city of Big Stone Gap.
It reads, "Big Stone Gap, originally known as Three Forks, received its charter, February 23, 1888. A postoffice was established April 12, 1856. In the early nineties it became the center of iron and coal development. It was the home and workshop of John Fox, Jr., novelist, and author of "Trail of the Lonesome Pine.""
The town of Big Stone Gap is economically centered around the coal industry. Formerly known as "Mineral City" and "Three Forks" before the official name change in 1888. The "Big Stone Gap" refers to the valley created on the Appalachia Straight, located between the town and Appalachia. The town served as an important center for coal and iron development in the 1880s and 1890s and residents hoped its coal and iron ore deposits would make it "the Pittsburgh of the South."
[Review 13456 overall, 775 of 2020.]
