Keeping Appalachia alive…
As you travel through Harlan County, you can also travel through time. Discover the local history and culture and how it has shaped our world.:
Pine Mountain Settlement School
Founded in 1913, this 800 acre campus features 26 historic buildings. Pine Mountain Settlement School originally served as a boarding school for mountain children and later as a day school. When it’s time as a school had ended, it was reimagined as a place where visitors could engage the natural environment as well as traditional Appalachian culture.
Today, Pine Mountain Settlement School presents cultural & environmental education, hosts retreats, preserves the historic campus, maintains collections & archives, operates a farm, and welcomes visitors.
Pine Mountain Settlement School is a destination for popular annual events such as their Fair Day & Sorghum Stiroff, Nativity Play, summer camps, Fall Color Weekend, Wildflower Weekend, and more!
Portal 31 Mine Tour
In the early days of the 20th century, Lynch Kentucky was the world’s largest coal camp. Thousands of miners from around the world converged on the area to do the laborious work of extracting coal in an underground mine. Today, visitors can follow in their footsteps as they travel into a once working underground coal mine at Portal 31. A rail car carries you into the mine where interactive exhibits along the way give insight into the life of a coal miner but inside and outside of the mines.
Hensley Settlement
Settled in 1903, Hensley Settlement was a self sustaining village high atop Brush Mountain. Modern technology never arrived at the settlement, leaving it intact as a rare example of remote mountain life in the earliest parts of the 20th Century. It is now part of the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park and serves as a living museum with 45 historic structures. Step into the blacksmith’s shop. Look into the springhouse. Sit in the one-room schoolhouse.
Kentucky Coal Museum
In the early days of the 20th century, Lynch Kentucky was the world’s largest coal camp. Thousands of miners from around the world converged on the area to do the laborious work of extracting coal in an underground mine. Today, visitors can follow in their footsteps as they travel into a once working underground coal mine at Portal 31. A rail car carries you into the mine where interactive exhibits along the way give insight into the life of a coal miner but inside and outside of the mines.
Godbey Appalachian Center
The Godbey Appalachian Center is located on the campus of Southeast Kentucky Community & Technical College in Cumberland. The Center is part of SKCTC’s commitment to preserving the region’s culture and heritage. You’ll find extensive Appalachian archives as well as murals by Appalachian artists. The center also houses gallery space and a theater to feature art and performances for the community. The Godbey Appalachian Center is home to the popular Higher Ground community arts organization.
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