Each year on the date closest to the anniversary of the May 19 Battle of Matewan, the Town of Matewan hosts its annual Heritage Day, which features the live re-enactment of the shootout! 

This year, the Museum pitched in with some events of our own! All of our events were held inside the Museum’s very own community center, which will grow into a new shared resource in the coming years! In case you missed it, we’re recapping some special moments from this weekend’s events. 

We hosted a public community charette about our building on Thursday, and welcomed Phoebe Randolph from Edward Tucker Architects! Thanks to a technical assistance grant from Downtown Appalachia Revitalization Initiative, we’re working with the team at Edward Tucker Architects to work up proposals for re-use of the blank spaces in our building, and we relied on the community’s input! Our member and town councilman, Michael Dotson, donated pizzas to help us feed folks.  

Like Thomas said on Friday, there wouldn’t be bluegrass without the blues. We celebrated Black musicians and Black history on Friday night, welcoming Aristotle Jones: Appalachian Soul Man and his Appalachian Soul Band. They were joined on stage with a special performance by Lady D, who also gave her live history rendition of Bessie Smith. 

And then, on Saturday, 

We’re still tired, but we’re still beaming, too. This space is ran by a lot of passionate people who want to see this history captured. You too? Well, then, we’ve got an invitation for you! The West Virginia Mine Wars Museum celebrates the power of everyday people, and we are powered by everyday people! Support the Museum with a monthly membership at any level. We’d love to have you join us.