11 Most Endangered Historic Places
Blair Mountain Battlefield
Year Listed: 2006
Location: Logan County, West Virginia
Current Status: Endangered
Threat: Development, Poor Public Policy
Latest News
June 2011: The National Trust, the Sierra Club, the Friends of Blair Mountain, the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, the West Virginia Labor History Association, and the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy filed a Lands Unsuitable for Mining Petition, requesting that Blair Mountain be declared unsuitable for surface mining due to its overwhelming historic significance. Learn more.
Significance
The 1,600-acre Spruce Fork Ridge of Blair Mountain, about 90 minutes southwest of Charleston, W.Va., was the scene of the showdown in 1921 between a miners' army at least 7,000 strong and a 3,000-man defensive force headed by Logan County Sheriff Don Chafin and other law officers, many of whom were on the coal companies' payrolls. The defensive force, bolstered by private planes that dropped homemade bombs on the miners, dug trenches, blocked roads, felled trees and mounted machine guns along the 15-mile ridgeline. The miners used natural pathways to mount the ridge and breach Chafin's line. The confrontation was the largest armed labor conflict in the nation's history, with miners seeking the right not only to unionize but also to exercise civil liberties such as freedom of speech and assembly.
Updates
February 23, 2011: United Mine Workers of America International President Cecil E. Roberts expressed the union’s strong support for preserving Blair Mountain and its labor history for future generations. Read more.
February 2011: Friends of Blair Mountain is organizing a march to show support for the preservation of Blair Mountain. The march will take place June 6-11, 2011. Read more.
November 2010: The National Trust joined the Sierra Club, the Friends of Blair Mountain, the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition and the West Virginia Labor History Association in a lawsuit against the Department of Interior, arguing that the National Park Service violated its own regulations in removing Blair Mountain from the National Register of Historic Places.
October 6, 2010: Scholars & Artists Write in Support of Blair Mountain National Register Listing
July 19, 2010: Earlier in July, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Sierra Club and the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition learned that at least five locations within the Blair Mountain National Register nominated battlefield have been bulldozed and partially destroyed. Read more.
June 2, 2010: Coal Firms to Strip-Mine Historic Battlefield? Preservationists fight uphill battle for West Virginia mountain, site of labor-rights clash. Read more.
April 6, 2009: The State of West Virginia, on behalf of petitioning landowners, has requested the delisting of Blair Mountain, which was placed on the National Register just last week. The criteria are stringent for delisting a historic place, and it remains to be seen whether or not the State's claims will stand. Read more.
March 30, 2009: Blair Mountain was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The culmination of almost 20 years of effort, the nomination withstood multiple challenges by the coal companies and land companies who control the historic site. As a nationally recognized historic place, Blair Mountain's significance and integrity is indisputable. While this will help document the site for future generations, listing on the National Register is only a small part of what's needed to save and interpret Blair Mountain. Read more here.
Since 2006, mining permits for Blair have been held up in court due to suspected Clean Water Act violations involved in surface mining. Recently, despite a decision by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to allow permitting to proceed, the Environmental Protection Agency has announced its own review of strip-mining's impacts to streams and waterways. The EPA's decision will grant another temporary reprieve for Blair Mountain.
