Help Revitalize the Town of Pocahontas

[EH31 2,520]

I got an invite for this on facebook...if you can make it or have some any suggestions let them know. It'll be on Feb. 13th, 6:30 at Pocahontas High School. Below is the information. Please attend if you can!

 

ATTENTION ALL THOSE BORN, RAISED, OR LIVING in POCAHONTAS, VA:

 

If you would like to see Pocahontas restored, here's your chance to help. Pocahontas is trying to get a grant to help restore the town, and is competing with another town for the grant. Large numbers of people are greatly needed!!

So if you love the town and would like to see her come to life again, this meeting is imperative. We all need to band together to show some numbers and some of our Indian pride.

A meeting is tentatively scheduled for Feb. 13 in Pocahontas. This date is not set in stone, but we need to see how many folks we can get involved.

After the meeting some have shown interest in going out to dinner and getting together with old classmates. Write and let us know if you would be interested in attending this meeting.

 

All updates and definite dates and times will be sent promptly.

 

 

 

 

 

TO RSVP TO THE EVENT ON FACEBOOK - http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#/event.php?eid=275911388381&ref=mf

[Guest quispbird]

I've lived in taz county for 20++ years and have never been to pocahontas.

 

Someone once told me it had a couple bars? Do they still exist?

[Deleted Account 5,203]

I've lived in taz county for 20++ years and have never been to pocahontas.

 

Someone once told me it had a couple bars? Do they still exist?

 

It once had over 2 dozen bars. True story.

And the Cricket closed a few years back. No more bars left, I believe.

[Guest JJBrickface]

Haha I never knew Pocahontas had any bars.

[BigD4VT 11]

Pocahontas used to be a bustling place. I've read a little about it, and was there with a photo class a couple of years ago. We toured an old theatre, a church, a jail, and a coffin shop. We also saw a lot of crumbling buildings, and some that were being torn down. There is a lot of history there. I would love to see them restore and preserve it.

[EH31 2,520]

Haha I never knew Pocahontas had any bars.

 

there were over 28 bars back in the day. pretty impressive for a town that would take less than 5 minutes to drive completely through.

 

this town really needs some help. there's too much history there to let it keep crumbling away. get the word out about this meeting..attend if you can! & for the ones that haven't been to Pocahontas..make the drive over there..look at all the old architecture and all the history displayed throughout the town..it might be a shell of what it once was, but it's still worth seeing!

[TaX 10]

Pocy is definately a raw little spot. If im in town, im down to help

[WaveFan09 50]

hope they save your town...they didnt save us..they crumbled it all down right infront of everyone and put up a sign.

 

Edited January 31, 2010 by WaveFan09

[blueinbama 259]

hope they save your town...they didnt save us..they crumbled it all down right infront of everyone and put up a sign.

 

 

So sad. Most, if not all of us here have known the joys and friendships of living in a small town like Pocahontas and Grundy. Maybe our next president could run on a platform of revitalizing small town America. I'd sure rather spend my tax dollars on something like this as opposed to some of the waste we pay for now.

[EH31 2,520]

Date and time confirmed! Let everybody know that you can please.

[BigD4VT 11]

http://www.bdtonline.com/columns/local_story_036151038.html

 

Pocahontas plans for promising future with tourist attractions

 

By LARRY HYPES

Bluefield Daily Telegraph

 

The place where it all started is hopefully headed for a new beginning. The local coalfields opened in Pocahontas with the first car of coal being shipped out the second week of March, 1883.

 

Since the original mine closed in 1955, the long and winding road to hard times has too often gone through town.

 

With a little help from you and Uncle Sam, that could finally be changing. Next Saturday, Feb. 13, a town and local area meeting at the Pocahontas High School building starts at 6:30 p.m. with an open invitation to everyone interested in revitalizing Pocahontas to be there and be supportive.

 

Town officials, led by Mayor Adam Cannoy and the Town Council, are going to present some ideas through a Master Plan designed to help the town secure a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) for a major portion of the $1.6 million project.

 

Management team chair and council member Amy Flick notes that part of the success in securing this grant will be local participation in the meeting.

 

The plan will share information about participating in the Spearhead Trail System that is being developed in northern Tazewell County in connection with the Hatfield-McCoy ATV Trail, which will be coming to Bramwell this summer. Amy says that the town has a good plan to become a productive partner in this exciting project.

 

The CDBG, which needs our help to become a reality, will do much to renew and restore the outward appearance of the historic town, which once had as many as 4,000 residents, a couple of weekly newspapers, and a booming economy.

 

To help renovate and make the town sparkle again, this grant money can be used for streetscape improvements, creation of some new houses, refurbishing some historic business fronts along various streets, and rehabilitating at least a portion of the old Company Store.

 

With the famed Exhibition Mine and museum already in place, the Opera House fairly close to being ready for use, a football field at the high school facility, a softball field in town, historic churches to display, a first class summer Bluegrass Festival drawing good crowds every fourth Friday in June, the annual Fourth of July and Coal Miners fall celebrations, the Pumpkin Festival on nearby Peel Chestnut Mountain, and a railroad track where the potential for an excursion train perhaps being connected to Bramwell and beyond, Pocahontas could become a tourist mecca in a few years.

 

The Spearhead Trail System is a potential vital link between the two states and a likely business boon. The chances for some new stores, possibly a motel and perhaps a restaurant or two are very inviting. Recreation is a major component of most communities and this ATV trail, which also is planned to include walking trails, probably horse riding space, etc., does offer possibilities.

 

In addition, the local government officials are promoting it and the more help they get they more they can give in the future.

 

The government, like the Lord, is more willing to help those who try to help themselves.

 

I am certain that the town officials want every available area adult who has an interest in seeing prosperity make a comeback show up at the meeting. That is fine, and it would be a true key to success to have a large number of young people. When these new modifications are put in place, it will be the younger folks who will be counted on to become involved and keep the community rolling along.

 

Although nobody said so, I can guarantee you that Pocahontas is happy to have its senior citizens but nobody wants the town to become a retirement home. People of all ages like variety, fun things to do and some excitement.

 

Anyone in the local area knows that improving one place makes the rest of them better. Making Pocahontas better will enhance Tazewell County and southern West Virginia. Many will benefit.

 

With the potential for renewal now at hand, this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance for the coalfield capital with a grand past to build on that spring board to a truly promising future.

 

See you at the meeting.

 

Larry Hypes is a teacher at Tazewell High School and a columnist for the Daily Telegraph.