Blue Heron, Kentucky

Coal town in Kentucky, United States

36°40′17″N 84°32′44″W / 36.67139°N 84.54556°W / 36.67139; -84.54556CountryUnited StatesStateKentuckyCountyMcCrearyFounded1937Elevation

^[1]

1,030 ft (314 m)Time zoneUTC-5 (Eastern (EST)) • Summer (DST)UTC-4 (EDT)GNIS feature ID510799^[2]Websitewww.nps.gov/biso/historyculture/blueheron.htm

Blue Heron, also known as Mine 18, is a former coal mining community or coal town on the banks of the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River in McCreary County, Kentucky, United States, that has been recreated and is maintained as an interpretive history area in the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area.^[3]

Blue Heron was operated as a company town of the Stearns Coal and Lumber Company. Its coal mines opened in 1937 and operated until December 1962, when the underground mines closed down for lack of profitability. The town was abandoned, and its buildings were either removed or decayed. The community was "re-created" in the 1980s as an outdoor museum. Some of the original structures have been replicated as open, metal shells of buildings, referred to as "ghost structures," on the approximate sites of the original buildings. Structures include a railroad depot, a full-scale model of the coal tipple, a school, and homes. Photographic exhibits and audio programs in the ghost structures tell about various aspects of life in the isolated mining community.^[3]

References

^ "Blue Heron". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved on 2010-08-08
^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Blue Heron, Kentucky
^ ^a ^b Blue Heron, Kentucky National Park Service. Retrieved on 2010-08-08

External links

National Park Service website about Blue Heron
Historic photographs of Blue Heron
Big South Fork Scenic Railway

Gallery

The depot (right), company store (left)
Entrance to Mine 18
Mine 18 display

Municipalities and communities of McCreary County, Kentucky, United States

County seat: Whitley City

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v t e Museums in Kentucky
Art	Kentucky Folk Art Center KMAC Museum Museum of the American Quilter's Society Speed Art Museum University of Kentucky Art Museum
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Biographical	Bill Monroe Museum General George Patton Museum of Leadership Muhammad Ali Center Rosemary Clooney Museum U.S. 23 Country Music Highway Museum Whitney Young Birthplace and Museum
History	Adsmore Ashland Bardstown Historical Museum Barthell Coal Mining Camp Big Sandy Heritage Center Blue Heron Coal Mining Camp Bluegrass Heritage Museum Civil War Museum Coal Miners' Museum David A. Zegeer Coal-Railroad Museum Don F. Pratt Memorial Museum Federal Hill The Filson Historical Society F.M. Stafford House Frazier History Museum Harland Sanders Café and Museum Highlands Museum and Discovery Center Historic Locust Grove Hunt–Morgan House Jeffersontown Historical Museum Kentucky Coal Museum Lexington History Center Magoffin County Pioneer Village and Museum Mary Todd Lincoln House McCreary County Museum Mountain Homeplace Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey History Portland Museum Riverside, The Farnsley–Moremen Landing Samuel May House Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History Thomas Edison House
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Parks

State	Buckhorn Lake Carr Creek Carter Caves Cumberland Falls Dawkins Line Rail Trail Dr. Thomas Walker Fishtrap Lake Grayson Lake Greenbo Lake Jenny Wiley Kingdom Come Levi Jackson Wilderness Road Natural Bridge Paintsville Lake Pine Mountain Pine Mountain Trail Yatesville Lake
Federal	Big South Fork Cumberland Gap
Interstate	Breaks Interstate