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1957 Map of Coeburn

Name: 1957 Topographic Map of Coeburn
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1978
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1978

About this map

Coeburn serves as the central hub in this Virginia coal country survey, where the Norfolk and Western and Clinchfield railroads converge to move the region's mineral wealth. The landscape is defined by extensive industrial activity, including numerous strip mines and mine dumps lining the ridges near Banner and Vicco. This extraction economy exists alongside deep-rooted community landmarks, from the McClellan Chapel and Maude Chapel to the Greenwood School.

South of town, the terrain drops dramatically into the Guest River Gorge, a prominent feature within the Jefferson National Forest. The map documents the passage of transport through this complex geography via the Swede Tunnel and Little Tom Tunnel, while higher elevations are monitored from the Bull Hill Lookout Tower. Numerous family cemeteries, such as the Stallard and McReynolds plots, offer critical geographic touchstones for those tracing the lineage of families settled along the Guest River and its many branches.