Jessica Lilly Published

African American Heritage Tour Funded For Oak Hill 

Photo of coal miners in West Virginia, 1908

A Fayette County community will soon join in a digital tour that honors Black history. The African American Heritage Tour is part of the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve.

The National Coal Heritage Area Authority will develop a new section that will be a part of the digital Southern West Virginia African American Heritage Tour.

The tours can be accessed through the National Park Service’s apps for their respective parks. The project already visits historic communities such as Hinton, Winona and Nuttallburg to share stories of Black coal miners, railroad workers, and other community members that helped shape this region.

The Oak Hill project is part of several across the country funded by the National Trust’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund.

The funding will cover research and interpretation of Black coal mining and labor history in southern West Virginia.