Cemeteries are not just for the dead.
Just ask the people in Pocahontas, a once-thriving coal town in Tazewell County where stories about the town’s historic resting place continue to thrive.
For Ginger and Don Cates, there’s beauty and joy in visiting the cemetery in their town, even though the ravages of time and lack of maintenance have left it in disrepair.
But there’s also hope as the town embarks on a restoration project — thanks to $140,000 from the state — that will bring new life to the forgotten cemetery and unite the people who share a common vision.
“Standing in the Pocahontas Cemetery takes you back in time — a time when Pocahontas was a melting pot with many nationalities and religions all together as one,” said Ginger Cates. “If you sit quietly under a tree, you can picture families gathered for picnics, people strolling along the many paths, a group of women gathered on a bench catching up on the latest gossip. It’s a place that not only honors those that have passed but also to bring life.”
Like many historic burial grounds, the Pocahontas Cemetery reflects the cultural values and practices of the past, making it a landmark that demands attention.
Pocahontas was founded as a company mining town by the Southwest Virginia Improvement Co. in 1881. It was the first company mining town in Virginia, supplying the majority of the coal for the U.S. Navy in World War I and World War II.
Many of the people buried there served integral roles in the development of the town.
A major mining disaster in 1884 is at the forefront of the townspeople’s memories.
The cemetery, which covers nearly 12 acres, was created shortly after the March 13, 1884, explosion in the Pocahontas East Mine claimed the lives of at least 114 miners. The explosion is said to have shaken the ground and buildings for half a mile around the mine. No one in the mine survived.
Not until a month later were the bodies recovered from the mine and buried side by side in a mass grave that became the town’s first cemetery.
According to the Cateses, a cabinetmaker in town, William Butt, was recruited by the coal company to make the coffins for the miners. The old and faded building that housed Butt & Company Coffins still stands in town.
Each year, Historic Pocahontas, a nonprofit organization that works to preserve the history and historical landmarks in Pocahontas, holds a candlelight vigil in honor of those miners who lost their lives.
Throughout history, victims of smaller mining explosions and accidents also have been laid to rest in the cemetery.
In the late 1800s, the Southwest Virginia Improvement Co. deeded the cemetery to the trustees of the Pocahontas Cemetery Association. When the association dissolved in the 1930s, the property was returned to the Pocahontas Fuel Co., the successor of Southwest Virginia Improvement Co. The property was eventually deeded to the town of Pocahontas.
Coal and cabbage rolls
Pocahontas Cemetery is notable among the region’s burial grounds for its representation of diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds.
The gravestones show inscriptions in Hungarian, Italian, Polish and Russian; some display the symbols of the Russian Orthodox faith.
As the story goes, coal barons were known to travel to Ellis Island in New York to recruit immigrants to work in the coal mines as they disembarked ships looking for the American dream.
In the 1920s, nearly 5,000 people lived in Pocahontas. Nearly two dozen churches represented the different religions practiced in town.
Ginger Cates said the ethnic influences at the time showed up where least expected.
“My mother often made cabbage rolls, which is a Hungarian dish — not something that likely originated in the mountains of West Virginia.” At one time, St. Elizabeth’s Roman Catholic Church would host an annual Hungarian cabbage roll dinner to honor the European heritage of the coal miners.
As the cemetery in Pocahontas continued to grow in the 1900s and beyond, locals began to treat the burial grounds much like a park.
“Benches were available throughout the park where people would sit and talk. I’ve heard people even went to the cemetery to court. It became a gathering place,” Ginger Cates said.
A long wait, finally over
The Cateses and others in town have banded together on a quest to preserve the town’s landmark and to honor those buried there.
For the town of a little more than 200 people, the wait is finally over.
Pocahontas was awarded $140,000 to launch a three-phase restoration project that will bring new life to the centuries-old cemetery that holds the graves of people who helped to build the town.
The money comes through a state budget amendment set into motion by state Sen. Travis Hackworth and Del. Will Morefield, both R-Tazewell, who recognized the importance of preserving the burial grounds.
“I entertained introducing a budget amendment in the past, but felt like I was in a stronger position to secure the funding this past General Assembly session and decided to move forward on filing an amendment,” Morefield said in an email about the September adoption of the amendment.
According to Morefield, it’s rare for cemeteries that hold such historic significance in Southwest Virginia to receive funding from the General Assembly.
“Pocahontas and its coal helped forge the United States as a global superpower. I felt like it was important to help preserve a part of our history and show tribute to the men and women who lost their lives helping build and defend America,” he said.
Morefield said he has visited the cemetery several times. “The first time that I visited, I was upset to see such a historic place slowly deteriorate,” he said. “Thousands of people traveled from around the world to live and work in the coalfields of Appalachia. I am hopeful that preserving part of our history will show others that our region was at one time one of the most culturally diverse areas in the United States.”
The delegate anticipates that additional funding will be secured to complete the restoration project.
According to Missy Gibson, a former president of Historic Pocahontas, a series of serendipitous events led to the state funding.
A friend in neighboring Bramwell, West Virginia, invited Gibson and other townspeople to a cemetery preservation workshop. After hearing about the Pocahontas Cemetery, the conductor of the workshop, Robert Mosko of Mosko Cemetery Monument Services, donated his services to perform a pro bono assessment report on the cemetery. The compilation of reports gave the townspeople what they needed to reach out to Hackworth and Morefield.
“During his research, Robert even discovered he has a relative buried in the cemetery,” Gibson said. “There are so many people who can trace themselves back to the Pocahontas Cemetery. I’ve even heard the ancestors of an NBA player are buried here.”
The Virginia Department of Historic Resources will oversee the money awarded to the project. Julie Langan, its director, has a soft spot for Pocahontas after visiting the historic community in the past.
The cemetery is unique among Virginia’s burial grounds, she said.
“This cemetery represents the melting pot that Pocahontas was. Immigrants from all over the world came seeking employment and a better life. They took a job on faith not knowing where they were going, ending up in a small mountainous area doing very difficult and dangerous work,” she said.
“You go to the cemetery, and you look at the headstones and that story is right there before you,” said Langan. “It pulls at your heart strings. It really does. You don’t see this kind of ethnic mix anywhere but in that part of Virginia. The jobs that the coal industry offered were like magnets for immigrant populations that otherwise wouldn’t have come to Virginia.”
The first phase of the restoration project, expected to take place in 2024, will clear fallen trees and limbs, cut back overgrowth, remove diseased trees and prune existing trees.
Ground-penetrating radar will be used to locate gravesites that are hidden in the overgrowth.
“No one really knows where the graves are located or how much room in the cemetery remains,” Don Cates said.
After the Cemetery Association disbanded in the 1930s, the maintenance of the cemetery was left up to the town, oftentimes creating a strain on its budget.
“Sometimes it has taken $2,000 just to cut the grass at the cemetery,” Ginger Cates said.
Phase 2 will help improve the aesthetics of the cemetery, such as the conditions of gravestones. Phase 3 will include the repairs of a stone wall that surrounds the cemetery, beautifying with landscaping and replacing a pavilion and a goldfish pond.
“It’s a fairly expensive undertaking and some of it is going to rely on volunteer help,” Don Cates said. He estimated the project will last close to seven years.
“The restoration will mean so much for the community,” Ginger Cates said. “The cemetery will be preserved for generations to come. It’s also important from a tourism standpoint because cemeteries are a big draw for communities everywhere.”
A turnaround in town
Restoration of Pocahontas Cemetery couldn’t come at a better time for the town.
More and more people are becoming interested in cemetery tourism, scouting out cemeteries that tell the stories of their ancestors.
The historic Pocahontas Cemetery, with its deep connections to the community, is a keen reminder that the town itself played an important role in Southwest Virginia.
The demise of coal in the 1950s caused a huge economic impact on the town, according to the Cateses. “Today, it’s very different from the heydays when the town was booming,” said Ginger Cates.
When coal declined, so did money in town. People left the area to find jobs elsewhere. Businesses closed their doors.
“There was no economic support here,” she said.
At least, not until 2014, when Spearhead Trails opened its second trail system in Tazewell County, connecting the Hatfield and McCoy trail system in West Virginia.
The Cateses moved to Pocahontas the following year.
The Original Pocahontas trail, named to honor the coal industry in town, features more than 70 miles of scenic twists and turns and impressive views.
“The trail was created as a tourist attraction to boost the economy here and it has worked,” Ginger Cates said.
“This is what brought us here. We already had been coming here to four wheel,” said Don Cates. While he is originally from Miami, his wife’s roots are in Pikeville, Kentucky, where she descends from the McCoys.
The couple saw the new tourism venture as the time to get in on the ground floor of the developments. Honoring her family name, the couple opened Real McCoy Cabins and Real McCoy Country Store and Kitchen in 2016.
Today, the Pocahontas Exhibition Mine takes visitors underground to see how coal was produced in the 19th century. Ole Number 3 Restaurant & Bar was named after the former coal industry there in town.
Like many of the townspeople, the Cateses recognize the importance of showcasing their little town, even if it means starting with a cemetery that’s almost become a forgotten place of memories.
“The cemetery restoration will mean so much for the community,” Ginger Cates said. “It’s a historic landmark but also a place to honor. It will be preserved for generations to come.”