Exploring the Eckley Miners' Village

One quotation on walls in the Eckley Miners' Village Visitor Center expressed it all:

Rough men doing rough jobs, getting from their women, hard-won help.  

No frills here:  

cooked food, a help with washing the man's back when, just up from the mine, 

he sits in the round tub, tin or wood; 

a sponge-off with blackish-green "sandsoap" a clean shirt; 

hot broth when he's laid up....

Or, as we came out of the theater showing an introductory video, the songs referred to by the museum docent -- "Sixteen Tons"  -- or which came to our minds -- "Dark as the Dungeon" -- we were overcome with the difficulties experienced by miner families who lived in Eckley during the times they worked in the underground mines here in coal country in Pennsylvania.  There are so many songs about coal mining and its evils. In addition to the songs noted above, two of my other favorites are John Prine singing, "Paradise," and Ben Sollee and Daniel Martin Moore singing, "Dear Companion."

The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission acquired the entire miners' village of Eckley in 1971.   Eckley is one of hundreds of company mining towns or "patches" built in the anthracite region during the nineteenth century.  In 1854, the mining firm of Sharpe, Weiss and Company leased land from the Tench Coxe Estate of Philadelphia and began work on Council Ridge Colliery. After 1875, when the Sharpe, Weiss lease expired, the Coxe family either operated the colliery themselves or leased it to other coal companies. During this period many changes took place.  Eckley Village, built near the colliery where coal was mined and processed, provided housing for miners and their families. To Eckley came a succession of immigrant groups seeking economic opportunities and regilious or political freedom. English, Welsh, and German miners were supplmented by Irish immigrants and then by southern and eastern Europeans. these groups formed an ethnic mosiac typical of the anthracite region.  Its stores, schools and churches supplied the economic, education, and religious needs to the villagers. By owning the village, the company had greater control over the lives of their workers.

Coal was discovered in this area in 1791, and by the 1850's an underground mine was active here.  Strip mining, begun in 1890, gradually replaced underground mining. Steam shovels stripped away the part around Eckley as well as part of the village. The work force at the Colliery and the population of Eckley gradually declined. From a population which numbered over 1,000 in 1870, 270 lived in the village in 1971 when the property was turned over to the state Museum Commission, and, today, only 19 private residents remain.

The property boats a fine visitors museum that presents the history of the mine, the village and coal mining in Pennsylvania:

After touring the museum, we walked through what remains of the village.  There are dozens of miner residences that are in various states of restoration and non-restoration.  Here are some restored houses:

Most properties boasted outbuildings.  While some remain, none appear to be restored:

Some of the houses - notably the ones still occupied - have not been rehabilitated, but appear to be in their original condition, as impacted by time and the elements:

Miner's villages, or "patches" - almost always boasted a company store.  The company store in Eckley burned down years ago.  However, a replica was built in 1970 for the filming of the movie "The Molly Maguires" which was filmed on location at this site:



Here is one of the better-preserved homes that has not yet been completely rehabbed.  It's siding shows the process that the original red-painted houses suffered, where the peeling and aging of the red paint looked as if it was reverting to bare wood:



One diagram in the visitor center shows a typical miner family garden, where typical produce was potatoes, cabbage, cucumbers, corn, pole beans, peas, tomatoes, onions, parsley, dill and garlic formed the staples of a miner family's meals:




Each coal mining town typically had a doctor, who was, essentially, an employee of the coal mine.  It was his responsibility to look after the health of the miner families, and for this he was paid a handsome salary of $1.00 per family per month.  Here is the doctor's house in Eckley, a respectable home:



The coal mine owner and his family often lived in relative luxury.  This is the home of the Eckley coal mine owner:

Religion played a major role in the lives of miners and their families.  There were Catholic, Presbyterian and Episcopal churches in Eckley.  This is the Catholic church, Immaculate Conception Church, which boated a rectory alongside it that now serves as the gift shop for the museum:

Over the years, there were three coal breakers in Eckley.  All burned down, but for the movie, "The Molly Maguires," this 1/3 scale model was built as backdrop:

The photo above includes coal cars that would have rolled up the ramp of the breaker to dump their contents into its bowels.  A better view of the ramp can be seen below:

Mining operations still continue on Council Ridge, variously known as Buck Mountain and Summit Hill.  The entire top of the hill has been flattened and was denuded of vegetation, as rock and coal were stripped from it.  When David visited the site in the early 1970's, there was little vegetation over the slag piles, but today, while the expanse of slag still reminds one of lava flows from Mt. St. Helens, trees and shrubs are slowly reclaiming the land.  In the photo below, you can see large swaths of slag spread out behind a reproduction of the mule barn that was used by the mine during its heyday:

This site was well worth our visit.  It gave us a concrete experience of the lives of miners in 18th and 19th Century underground coal mines throughout Pennsylvania and the Northeast U.S.