Introduction

The Coal Mining Heritage Park represents the first node on the Montgomery County’s Heritage Parks and Trails System, a system that includes the Huckleberry Trail and is designed to provide alternative recreational opportunities and transportation routes to county residents and visitors while celebrating the heritage that defines the character of Montgomery County. The history of Montgomery County is rich with pioneer, mining, agriculture, and railroad experience, all of which is threatened with extinction as the nature of the county’s population and landuse necessarily changes. Because history represents the soul of communities and regions, it is essential to the long-range health of the county to preserve the past while planning for future growth and change.

In the fall of 1999, Dr. Mary LaLone and her Applied Anthropology students from Radford University, in conjunction with Montgomery County, the Coal Mining Heritage Association, and the state archaeologist from the Department of Historic Resources Roanoke Regional Preservation Office, developed a study, plan, and a series of recommendations for the county’s property at Merrimac. The park represents a chance for Montgomery County to develop and implement a new approach to park funding and construction that relies on user/community participation and funding in the all phases of park development.While the final plan for the park retains many of the original recommendations by Dr. LaLone and her students, the environment of the park property and funding limitations have necessitated a revision of the sequencing of development and the range of facilities being provided.

Conceptual Basis for the Development of the Coal Mining Heritage Park

The development of the Coal Mining Heritage Park started with the creation of a working master plan for the park by Dr. Mary LaLone and her Anthropology students from Radford University. However, the actual development of the park relies on a far more incremental approach which divides the park into development zones and divides the projects within each zone into those suitable for community/volunteer development and those that require public funding. In general, the majority of “large scale” projects, including construction of major facilities, will require funding from the county and other grant sources (federal, state, and corporate grants).

Traditionally, parks have been funded almost solely by the county government, with additional funds occasionally supplied by outside agencies, most notably at the state level. While this approach gets parks built in a far shorter time frame than is anticipated for the Coal Mining Heritage Park, it either precludes or excludes community involvement in the actual planning and construction of park facilities. The very nature of the Coal Mining Heritage Park and the communities it is intended to serve suggest trying a different approach to park development, an approach that involves three key features: 1) active community involvement, 2) zone phasing and small scale project development, and 3) the use of a combination of public and private funding sources, including material grants.

Community Involvement

In her book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs suggested that communities give a boon to parks by their connection to and their involvement in defining the direction, growth, and long term health and use of the park land. Although Jacobs was no great supporter of public parks, her point is well taken. The Coal Mining Heritage Park is only as useful and as vibrant as the users and the county are willing to make it. Through the integration of the local and state government, community organizations, and university groups, as well as individuals, in the long term development and maintenance of the park, it is hoped that the park will enjoy a longer and stronger connection to the communities and constituencies it is being designed to serve. Indeed, community involvement is a key cornerstone to the establishment of the Coal Mining Heritage Park, and, like the proverbial three-legged stool, the loss of support by any one of the three groups threatens to undermine the long-term successful development of the park.

Community involvement, in this case, extends far beyond the initial planning stages to include physical construction and maintenance of park facilities. The Radford University project that led to the original plan for the park was based, in large part, on input provided by representatives of the various constituencies served by the park and by members of the Merrimac and coal mining communities at a series of public meetings held at the Merrimac Pentecostal Holiness Church, October 21 and October 23, 1999. The Radford University Anthropology students used a variety of participatory activities, including surveys and focus groups, to determine what members of the various communities wanted in the park. The results of the surveys and focus groups, detailed in the Appendix of the Radford University Study (Figure 1).

 

In most cases, this is where public involvement in the development would end. In the case of the Coal Mining Heritage Park, public involvement has been extended well into the physical development, construction, and maintenance phases. A partial list of projects and participants includes:

It should be noted that all of the projects listed above are either ongoing or have been completed since August, 2000. The participant list includes individuals unconnected to organizations, members of both the for-profit and non-profit sectors, participants from both universities, and multiple Montgomery County departments. The range of participants indicates the importance of community involvement and, currently, the depth of community involvement in the development and long-term health of the park.

 

Zone Phasing and Small Project Development

The development of the Coal Mining Heritage Park is based on two central assumptions: 1) that the phasing of the park should be based on zones (small development areas), and 2) that the development of each zone should be broken down into two categories (small community projects and projects requiring public investment). (See Figure 2 for a more comprehensive view of the zones and the projects related to each zone).

Ideally, public parks should reflect both public and private investment in order to build and maintain a sufficient user base. Investment, however, in not always monetary in nature, and should include significant contributions in time and expertise (see Figure 3) from members of the different park constituencies. The use of a small project incremental development approach encourages the latter type of investment, and creates significant coalitions which, in the long run, guarantee the park’s long term health and usefulness.

The small project development approach requires planning the park’s development by zoned area: small, contained areas of development. In designing a park based on the incremental zoned development approach, park planners need to look at the overall development plans for a park, divide the park into areas which would support both public and private projects, and, finally, determine which projects in each zone could realistically be completed with donated materials and labor and which projects will require a financial investment on the part of Montgomery County or significant grant monies. The Coal Mining Heritage Park has 11 development zones, each requiring both public and private investment. In some cases, like the playground area, public, private, and corporate support will be required to complete development.

In addition, there are collateral projects that involve the development of the educational mission of the Coal Mining Heritage Park. These projects include: the development of the historical and scientific exhibits for the park, the development of the park, in partnership with the Virginia Natural Science Museum and the Montgomery County Public Schools, as Globe site for earth science and ecology students in Montgomery County schools, and the development of print and online educational materials to support the scientific and historical education missions of the park property.

To date, the front entrance zone is nearly complete, the tipple area is roughly 50% completed, and the hoist house zone is just beginning development. The Montgomery County Public Schools and the Virginia Natural History Museum have started the process of accessing the park as a Globe site; and the Planning Department has started development of the historical signage, the historical walking-tour brochure, and the park education web site.

The Coal Mining Heritage Park education web will provide a clearinghouse location for long-range scientific data on the park. Provision of the data will allow longitudinal comparative studies by science students in the Montgomery County school system. Because of the emphasis on science education, much of the park land will remain in its current natural state, thus not requiring extensive maintenance. The emphasis does, however, mean that the grassy areas in the recreational and public garden areas should not be treated with chemical fertilizers currently or in the future.

Public and Private Investment

Funding for the park will come from a variety of arenas: local, state, and federal grants, private donations, corporate sponsorship through direct grants and material grants, and donated labor. In the cases where materials donations and outside agency grants are used, acknowledgement signage needs to be installed near or on the donated facility.

Some projects, like the Merrimac Link Trail, must be built by trained artisans, precluding the use of volunteer labor. However, the cost of projects requiring the use of construction specialists can be mitigated by seeking housing grants (donated or subsidized hotel costs) in order to lower the estimated construction costs, and by applying for state and federal grants to help augment the cost of the project. The National Park Service, through the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, has already awarded Montgomery County a $31,500 grant for the construction of the Merrimac Link Trail, a $147,842.00 ADA accessible boardwalk trail connecting the proposed parking area at the collections facility to the Huckleberry Trail near the midpoint of the park.

The Capital Improvements Project request of 17.4 million dollars (see Appendix A) reflects the full cost of the park if no time or materials were donate, nor grants applied for and received. However, the reality is the park will not cost the county the full amount (see Figure 5). Some projects, like the tipple bridge, the picnic pavilion, and the stage are slated to be built by other organizations. A combination of public funds, private funds (through a Home Depot grant), and donated labor will be used to create the playground. Materials grants from Lowes, Home Depot, and Reed Lumber, as well as donated labor by members of the Boy Scouts, Radford University, Virginia Tech, and the Coal Mining Heritage Association will be used to build the majority of the low impact trails. Most of the benches and picnic tables slated for installation in the park are being donated by the families of Merrimac miners. Although the county is covering the cost of the signage, Hall Construction has donated the metal bases for the six placement signs already in the park. The materials for the front entrance sign and kiosk were donated by Lowes and Reed Lumber, and the sign was built and installed by Fred Lawson, a member of the Merrimac Community, and by members of the Coal Mining Heritage Association. The upper Merrimac Trail, a .7 mile paved trail is slated to be constructed using a trails grant from the DCR, a grant which requires a 20% match on the part of the county, with the remaining 80% coming from state and federal resources. In addition, the Coal Mining Heritage Association, a 501(c)(3) organization, has agreed to apply for corporate grants to help in the construction of park facilities, most notably the proposed museum. The first of these grants is slated to be applied for this winter, as is the DCR trail grant.

 

The Montgomery County Heritage Parks and Trails System.

The use of public/private partnerships in the funding and construction of the park facilities reflects a broader-based investment in the park, in the Merrimac community, and in Montgomery County. The approach being used in the development of the Coal Mining Heritage Park should work with other nodes and trails slated for inclusion in the Montgomery County Heritage Parks and Trails System.

The Heritage Parks and Trails System (HPTS) provides a combination of bikeways, walkways, and shared roads connecting the public and private recreational and cultural facilities (Figure 6) in Montgomery County, Blacksburg, and Christiansburg, while providing safe alternative transportation routes for county citizens and visitors. The cornerstone to the system would be a series of four parks, one located in each of the four magisterial districts, including the Coal Mining Heritage Park at Merrimac, celebrating the diverse history and culture of Montgomery County. Portions of the trail system connecting the resources will be ADA accessible, while other portions will be either low impact hiking trails or shared roadways for bicycles. Some of the shared roadway facilities have already been developed and are in use, as is the Huckleberry Trail (the first of the ADA accessible trails).

Other possible trail locations include a trail extending from Shawsville to Lafayette which will offer residents safe access to the schools, the proposed library, and the Elliston/Lafayette park; a trail connecting Christiansburg and Riner, and a trail extending up Catawba Valley, as well as a trail spur linking the Huckleberry Trail to Whitethorne. While shared roadways work reasonably well for cyclists, they are not particularly safe for walkers or disabled users and do not qualify as ADA accessible trails. In addition, a combination of shared roadway along facilities between Blacksburg and Christiansburg.

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Last Updated: 12 August, 2002
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