Life of a Coal Miner's Daughter
The Benham Coal Mining Museum
by Sandra Scott
“We were poor, but we had love
That's the one thing that daddy made sure of
He shoveled coal to make a poor man's dollar.”
Tucked in a treed-covered valley in the Kentucky hills is Benham, a coal-mining town not too far away from Butcher Hollow (pronounced “holler”) where Loretta Lynn was born and raised. One of the many special exhibits in the Benham Kentucky Coal Mining Museum is dedicated to Loretta Lynn, a coal miner’s daughter. The four-story museum is housed in the former International Harvester company commissary built in the 1920s and where many miners “owed their soul to the company store.”
Learn about the history of coal mining and those who fought to better conditions for miner’s and their families including “Mother Jones,” a spit-fire woman once labeled "the most dangerous woman in America" by a U.S. district attorney. Mary Harris "Mother" Jones rose to prominence as a fiery orator and fearless organizer of coal mine workers during the first two decades of the 20th century. Other displays recreate typical scenes from an earlier time including a drugstore, a kitchen, and a dentist’s office with foot-pump drill. Many aspects of mining coal are examined. On the lowest level of the museum is a mock coal mine.
Part of the topmost floor is devoted to the “Coal Miner’s Daughter” and includes a recreated facade of Lynn’s “Old Kentucky Home.” Lynn’s early years were not unique in the coal mining area. She married at 14 and by the time she was 17 she had four children, but life change when her husband, Oliver V. "Mooney" Lynn, gave her a guitar – the rest is history.The Benham Coal Mining Museum is on the National Register of Historic Places. Nearby is the Coal Miner’s Park with a life-size bronze miner and a memorial wall listing names of coal miners who worked in various mines in the region. Across the street from the museum is the Benham School House Inn, built in 1926 as a school for coal camp children. It was restored and turned into an inn in 1990’s with 30 guestrooms making it the perfect place to stay while exploring Kentucky’s coal mining region. Take note of the room numbers. They represent each of the years the school was in session.
To tour a real coal mine head to Lynch, a coal-mining town just a few miles away from Benham, for a trip into Portal 31. Near the portal take note of the statue of John L. Lewis, the long-time president of the United Mine Workers of America, and the black granite marker naming coal miners who were killed in the Lynch District Mines. A miner’s rail car takes visitor’s 800 feet underground on a tour where robotons, using the voices of local coal miners, explain the various phases of mining from the early 1900s to the present.
Plan time to check out other area attractions including Kingdom Come State Park with 1,283 acres of unspoiled wilderness and the Godbey Appalachian Center dedicated to preserving the region’s culture and heritage. For more information check www.tourseky.com or call 888-SEE-SEKY
Article by Sandra Scott / Photography by Sandra Scott
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