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The first commercially mined coal in America came from Midlothian, where it was discovered near the French Huguenot settlement on the James River about 1701. Although used locally for many years, it was first commercially mined in the 1730s. During the 18th century, "Mid-Lothian" coal was used to support the Revolutionary War in making American cannons at Westham.
Commercial mining in Chesterfield County did not expand until the 1800s due to competition from foreign mines and the reliance on wood for home heating. Thomas Jefferson, in his "Notes on Virginia," stated that the quality of coal in Chesterfield County was excellent. Eventually, mine workers settled in the vicinity of Midlothian, responding to the opportunity for employment in Chesterfield County's coal pits.
The earliest mining techniques involved digging open trenches or shallow pits. Later developments would involve digging well-like shafts 100 to 700 feet down to the coal seams, which averaged a thickness of 36 feet.
In 1835, the heirs of William Wooldridge chartered the Mid-Lothian Coal Mining Company. The company sank several 11-foot-wide shafts on its 404 acres of property, the deepest being 722 feet. Their investments included steam engines, stone buildings, railroads above as well as inside the mines and a coal yard. They employed 150 men and boys and expected them, with the aid of 25 mules, to raise 1 million bushels of coal per year.
In 1855, a serious explosion in the pump shaft killed 55 men. Another explosion on Feb. 3, 1882, took the lives of 32 day-shift miners in the Mid-Lothian Grove Shaft, leaving 109 fatherless children and 26 widows and mothers.
Coal mining in the Midlothian region declined after the Civil War due to a loss of slave labor as well as improved production in the Appalachian mountains. Most of the mines were abandoned in the 1920s. During the 1930s, the state allowed citizens to carry away free coal to heat their homes. The last mine operating in Chesterfield County was in Salisbury as late as November 1942.
The mission of the Mid-Lothian Mines and Rail Roads Foundation is to provide educational, cultural and recreational opportunities through the preservation, reconstruction and interpretation of the historic coal mining and railroad sites in and around the village of Midlothian.
The Park is located at 13301 North Woolridge Road, Midlothian, VA 23114
13301 North Woolridge Rd., Midlothian, VA 23114
This site is sponsored by Chesterfield Heritage Alliance. |
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