West Virginia Mine Wars Museum

The WV Mine Wars Museum, in the heart of Historic Matewan, preserves and interprets artifacts and historical records of the local communities affected by the West Virginia Mine Wars, exploring historical events from multiple perspectives through the lives of ordinary people. The museum is located at 401 Mate Street in Matewan, in a building that still bears the scars of bullet holes from the Matewan Massacre shootout. Its offerings include exhibits about coal camp life, the Paint Creek-Cabin Creek Strike of 1912-1913, the Matewan Massacre, the Miners’ March, and the Battle of Blair Mountain. Housing the largest exhibited collection of Mine Wars Era artifacts, oral histories, digitized film reels, maps, and historic photos, the museum simulates the journey that many mining families took as they organized together for their rights.