RHODELL

Rhodell is the only incorporated town on Stonecoal Creek. The original name of the town was Rhodesdale, although I have heard my dad refer to the area as "Spiderweb." The Frances mine at Rhodell was owned by the E.C. Minter Coal Co., and the Rhodell Coal Co. operated there, too.

"Downtown" Rhodell

The late Ms. Farrugia, a Sicilian immigrant, owned this store. She came to America around 1912, and I met her when she was still running this store in 1987, a very late date to still find a first generation immigrant to the WV coalfields. In the year 2003, one can still meet second generation sons and daughters of these "hunky" immigrants at St. Francis de Sales Church in Beckley, but their numbers are smaller every year. Their childern and grandchildren have dispersed from the area, returning it to the Anglo-Celtic population that was there before the mines opened.

Coal camp houses in Rhodell

Tunnel near Rhodell

Another coalfields resident submitted this photograph of coal miners in Rhodell in 1959.