voicesofleecountyva.com

  The End of the Road: The Rise and Fall of Bonny Blue, Virginia Deep in the rugged hills of Lee County, Virginia, tucked away in narrow hollows near the Kentucky border, lies the quiet remnant of a once-booming Appalachian coal town. Today, Bonny Blue is a near-ghost town where nature has steadily begun to reclaim its due. But a century ago, it was the beating heart of Virginia’s coal empire. The Boom Era: A Model Coal Town Founded in the early 1920s by the Blue Diamond Coal Company, Bonny Blue quickly exploded into life. By 1922, it was the largest coal operation in the state of Virginia. To support a growing workforce of miners extracting high-quality Red Ash coal, the company built a completely self-sufficient community from scratch. At its peak in the 1930s and 40s, Bonny Blue housed roughly 1,000 residents. Neighborhoods with names like Mayflower Hollow and Magazine Hollow were lined with modest, company-built homes. Life centered around the massive company commissary—the loc...