Faces of the Mine
Faces of the Mine
Unveiling the Memorial
Yesterday, the Faces of the Mine team traveled to Whitesville to continue our work on the website. It was a productive day, and we’re happy to share a few bits of good news with you about the progress the site is making.
First, we confirmed yesterday that we will be live-streaming the one-year memorial service on our website. What that means is that you’ll be able to watch the complete service from the comfort of your home just by logging on to www.facesofthemine.com. We’ll provide more details later on about how to get to the live-stream and what time we’ll be starting, so check back for another post with more detailed instructions.
Second, we’re happy to finally unveil some of the plans for a permanent Upper Big Branch memorial.
At yesterday's meeting, an designer presented his plans for an UBB Miners Memorial. (Photo by Paige Lavender)
Since we started Faces of the Mine we’ve been working with several people in the community surrounding UBB, including Sheila Combs and Mike Gwinn, two members of the Upper Big Branch Mining Memorial Group, Inc. The UBB Mining Memorial Group is a non-profit that’s working to raise money to erect a memorial in Whitesville to honor those who died at UBB, as well as all who have lost their lives in the mining profession. The group held a public meeting yesterday to unveil the official design of the memorial.
Soon, we’re going to add a page to our website totally dedicated to the UBB Mining Memorial Group’s plans. We’ll have better images of the memorial at that time, as well as a detailed written description of what the memorial will look like and a place for people to donate money to help with the building of the memorial.
The families in attendance at yesterday’s meeting had only positive things to say about the memorial plans. The site will consist of a black granite wall featuring the silhouettes of 29 coal miners. The granite at the top of the monument will be made to look like mountains, and below the feet of these silhouettes will be pieces of coal. On the back side of the granite wall will be a list of the miners’ names and possibly, a timeline of the events that took place on April 5 and a poem. There will also be a sitting area behind the wall where people can stop to reflect and remember the miners. Surrounding these structures will be specially chosen plants that will bloom at the start of April each year.
We’re happy to support the UBB Mining Memorial Group’s efforts with this memorial, and we hope you’ll show support, too. For those who wish to donate, checks can be sent to the following address:
Upper Big Branch Mining Memorial, Inc.
25586 Coal River Rd.
Orgas, WV 25148
We’ll let you know when our donation page is up and running, too. The group is looking to raise $500,000 to fund the building of the memorial, and they can use all the help they can get. If you have questions about the building of the memorial, you can email us at info@facesofthemine.com. We’ll forward any messages to those people involved with the UBB Mining Memorial Group.
What do you think about the memorial? What sort of things would you like to see on the back of the memorial? Let us know in the comments.
Looking forward to see new page, dedicated to the UBB Mining Memorial Group’s plans.
[...] Before that trip, I was in Whitesville with the FotM team working out the logistics of live-streaming and meeting with the planning committee for the physical memorial that will be built in Whitesville. You can read all about that memorial (and learn where to donate!) by clicking here. [...]