Coalwood, West Virginia Web Site

Coalwood, West Virginia
GPS Coordinates: 37.38744, -81.65172

Tales from the End of the Bridge
By Homer R. ("H.R.") Ayers
This book is not about Coalwood, but it is about growing up in a small town in West Virginia, specifically, Alderson, West Virginia, in the 1940s and 1950s. If books had movie ratings, I would give this one a PG, possibly a PG-13. If you grew up in a small town in West Virginia (or in any small town, for that matter), you may enjoy this book. It can be purchased on amazon.com.

Photos of the
2009 October Sky Festival!
Please click here.

Interested in rocketry?
Be sure to visit the USSRC in Huntsville, Alabama!
Please click here for more information.

Coalwood Movie now Shipping!

Steve Date is one of fine teachers from Minnesota who has been visiting Coalwood for the past five years or so. Steve has been videotaping the locals tell about their lives in Coalwood. He has amassed a huge library of sound and video clips along with still photos.

Steve has now edited the best of the best into a DVD which is now shipping.

For more information, including how to order, please see:
www.CoalwoodMovie.com.

Project Icarus
You might enjoy the story of the MIT students who mounted a camera in an ice chest, attached it to a weather balloon, and launched the entire thing into near space. The entire cost of the project was under US$150.00, and the balloon made it to an altitude of 93,000 feet [28,346 meters] before it popped. The balloon, ice chest and camera made it safely back to earth, and the MIT students now have some amazing photos (like the one above)! http://space.1337arts.com/

Postcard: "Highway Over Coalwood Mountain, Looking East, Near Welch, W. Va."
The postcard we found is postmarked 1934 from Bluefield, West Virginia!

An old Olga Coal (Carter Coal Company) advertising brochure found on eBay.
Please click here to read.

A Flaming Rock!
This is a very interesting DVD produced by some folks in McDowell County. (We purchased a copy at the 2007 October Sky Festival.) The DVD is full of vintage photos and motion pictures from the area. We particularly enjoyed one of the bonus features that showed the different kinds of mining equipment Joy manufactures. To order a copy, click here.

Dan Traveling Videos
Watch new video on the town of Pocahontas, Virginia.
Click here to see video.
See new video on Bramwell, West Virginia.
Click here to see video.
See the video on the 2007 October Sky Festival in Coalwood.
Click here to see video,

David Goad's and Alex Schust's book
Coalwood: A History of the West Virginia Mining Communities of Coalwood, Caretta and Six
is now shipping! The book contains 400 pages of history, stories and photos. To see excerpts, and to order a copy, please see David Goad's web site: www.coalwoodmemories.com.

Paying Tribute to Coalwood, West Virginia

There are fan sites for movie stars and rock stars. As far as we know, this is the first fan site for a town!

June 2006: Baxter and Shelby Trail sent us some great photos they took in Petros, Tennessee, in 1998 during the filming of October Sky. Please click here to see their photos.

David Goad writes: "Here's a neat picture of Clinton Caton standing at the big drill press in the machine shop at Coalwood. Some of Homer's rocket parts were made by Clinton on this press." Photo courtesy of the David Goad Collection.

Coalwood Tipple
Photo courtesy of the R. Tim Gilley collection;
Tim attributes it to the David Goad collection.
Can anybody date this photo? If so, please contact us. Thanks!

Coalwood, West Virginia, is a very special place. All of us have different ideas and perceptions of Coalwood depending on our backgrounds:

The people who live in Coalwood today.
The people who lived and worked in Coalwood.
The people who know Coalwood through the book Rocket Boys.
The people who know Coalwood through the movie October Sky.
Teachers who have planned lessons around Coalwood.
Students who have learned about Coalwood in their classrooms.
The people who have visited Coalwood as tourists.

Fred Schwendel has graciously provided us with five wonderful photos of some of the filming locations for the movie October Sky. Please click here to see them all.

We know several people who have been looking for copies of Barbara Hilemon's book
The Making of Rocket Boys / October Sky
As Seen Through the Eyes of the Movie Extras
After months of searching, we finally located Barbara, and she still has copies of the book for sale! Click here for details.

This site's webmasters are certainly not experts on Coalwood. We just thought that Coalwood needed a web site where people around the country and the world can see Coalwood and share their own thoughts.

We welcome all the fans of Coalwood, West Virginia, to share photographs, stories and memories with us. Not only does this include Coalwood itself, it also includes photos, stories and memories of the filming of October Sky in east Tennessee.

Coalwood has made a positive difference in all of our lives. We hope, with your contributions, this web site will be able to capture some of these feelings.

Our Favorite Links!

Homer Hickam's Web Site
www.HomerHickam.com

David Goad's Web Site
www.CoalwoodMemories.com

Steve Date's Web Site
www.CoalwoodMovie.com

Rafe Esquith's Web Site
www.HobartShakespeareans.org

Ron Clark's Web Site
www.RonClarkAcademy.com

Coalwood Forever

"I have been amazed at the people from around the world that have been touched by Coalwood and Homer's books. I see people come to Coalwood, and what we took for granted, the people who visit just can't get enough. And all the attention that has come from the books and movie only prove that Coalwood was, and is, a special place with special people. Some day, Coalwood will be no more than a few houses with a new generation of people, but I believe that the Coalwood way of life -- what it was and what it is -- will be passed on as long as people like yourselves and myself put the web sites together and keep the history alive for future generations. Like Homer and the people of Coalwood say Coalwood Forever."

David Goad
Coalwood Historian

Most of the pictures on this web site are thumbnails.
Simply click on a picture to enlarge it.

Miscellaneous Facts About Coalwood, West Virginia

Coalwood: in an unincorporated town.
Coalwood is located in McDowell County, West Virginia.
Time Zone: Eastern Time Zone (U.S.A.)
Coalwood's Population (1990 Census): 900.
Coalwood's Population (2000 Census): Not counted separately.
Elevation: 1,450 feet
Telephone Country Code: 1
Telephone Area Code 304
Telephone Exchange: 297
Thus a Coalwood phone number would look like: 1-304-297-xxxx.
McDowell County's Population (2000 Census): 27,329
McDowell County's Population (1990 Census): 35,233
McDowell County's Land Area: 535 sq. mi.