Bon Jellico historical marker being dedicated May 28

This coal tipple was part of the Bon Jellico coal camp that existed from 1912-1937. A historical marker will be dedicated May 28 in recognition of the coal camp.

Memorial Day Weekend, Whitley County will be getting a new historical marker to commemorate a somewhat forgotten piece of its history.

The Kentucky Historical Society will unveil a new historical marker at 2 p.m. on Sunday, May 28, which will be located about two miles west of Williamsburg near the intersection of Highway 92W and Bon Hollow Road. The marker will commemorate the Bon Jellico mine and coal camp.

The mine operated from 1912-1937 and employed 350 workers. It produced nearly 100,000 tons of Blue Gem coal annually.

The town around the mine included 75 houses, a three-room school/church and a company store. About 1,500 people lived in Bon Jellico over the 25-year period that the mine operated, according to the Kentucky Historical Society (KHS).

The mine closed primarily because the coal supply was depleted.

“Coal camps that were so ubiquitous when Bon Jellico got started continued into the 1950s. They have now all dried up or are drying up. It is just good to remember where that particular one was,” noted Whitley County native Lynn Stenglein, one of the local organizers behind the effort.

“We just feel like this generation needs to know where it was and what people did there, and the impact of the men and women that worked there.”

Stenglein noted that while the women didn’t mine the coal, they did play an essential role in the camp teaching, quilting, gardening and taking care of the families.

“We tried to emphasize that as part of the marker,” she added.

Stenglein said that starting around 1950, there was an annual homecoming/reunion for residents and their descendants of the Bon Jellico camp, which ran for 52 years.

“It was a very close knit community. So many of us lived together. I never lived in Bon Jellico. It was well before my time, but descendants of the people that lived there have commemorated,” she said.

The last reunion was in 2002. Stenglein said most of the original residents of the camp had either passed away, moved from the area or for other reasons could no longer make it back so the organizers decided to end it on a high note.

After the dedication ceremony, Stenglein said there will be a reception at the Whitley County Historical and Genealogical Society museum, which is located off Main Street in Williamsburg in the old railroad depot building. The public is invited to the reception.

More than 2,400 historical markers statewide tell Kentucky’s history. The Kentucky Historical Society administers the Kentucky Historical Marker Program in cooperation with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.

For more information about the Bon Jellico log onto www.kykinfolk.com/bonjellico.