1976 Map of Big Stone Gap

Smaller residential and industrial hubs like Exeter, Irondale, and Olinger dot the corridors between the mountains, often following the winding paths of drainage like Lovelady Creek and Pigeon Creek. The presence of Seminary and Jasper further south illustrates the pattern of early-to-mid 20th-century settlement that clung to the more navigable bottomlands. This orthophotoquad provides an unvarnished view of the land use, showing the intersection of dense forest, residential pockets, and the scars of resource extraction near Wildcat Summit.