New Additions to the Mining On The Mountain Website
Recent additions to the Bon Air Historical Society website, Mining On The Mountain, include audio interviews with residents of the Bon Air mining communities. The interviews were conducted in the early 1980s by Betty Huehls in the process of doing research for her master’s thesis. Interviews with the following people are now available for listening online under the “History” menu on the website.
- Mrs. Ersia Black
- Lum Cantrell
- Carl Simmons
- Cora Cooley
- Herman Cowden
- William Davis
- Mattie Eller
- Vernon Hutton Jr.
- James Ziska
- John Ziska
- Cecil and Harry Chittick
- Clarence Hamby
- James Rollins
- W. E. Short
- Daisy Jones
- Kittle McBride Fulmer
Also added to the website is information about the eighteen schools that served the Bon Air Mountain communities during the coal mining years. The White County Retired Teachers’ Association granted permission for the Bon Air Mountain Historical Society to use information from their book, Schools of White County Tennessee 1806 – 2006, which was published in 2006. The schools that operated during the mining years on Bon Air Mountain were eventually consolidated into the present day BonDeCroft Elementary School.
Photos of the schools are still being identified and uploaded to the website. If anyone has pictures of the individual schools that do not yet have a photo online, please email a copy to Sue Carmichael at admin@miningonthemountain.org or send an email to the same address to arrange to have a copy made for the website.
Bon Air Mountain Historical Society's New Website Announced
October 9, 2017
Dear friends and society members,
I am pleased to announce that a new website is now online for everyone to explore and share the stories of the Bon Air Mountain coal communities with family and friends. The website is called “Mining On The Mountain” and can be found by typing the address miningonthemountain.org in your computer or mobile device’s web browser.
It is our hope that the website will continue to grow and add features, information, personal stories, photos, videos and any other kinds of historical information about the Bon Air mining industry. The advantage of a website is that the information can be categorized under specific headings for easy access to the total collection of information that is available on any particular subject.
Please feel free to explore the new website and make any suggestions that you feel might add to the body of knowledge contained there. Plans are to continually update the website as new information becomes available. Hard copy photographs and documents can be digitized for addition to the website and original documents will be returned to the owners unless the intent is to donate them to the permanent collection of the museum. Please submit physical documents and photos to either me or Sue Carmichael so that we can insure they are properly cataloged and added to the historical collection. Digital images and information can be submitted using the email address Admin@miningonthemountain.org found on the website contact page and at the bottom of the web pages.
Some of the features of the website include “buttons” with different titles such as Read More, Learn More or Photo Collection. The “buttons” link the user to other pages with either additional information or photos related to the subject. Buttons can be found at different locations on the pages including the bottom of some pages. The “News” heading is a blog where current events, information, announcements, etc. can be posted as they occur.
I hope you are as proud and excited as I am about the addition of the new website to our ongoing efforts to preserve and document the history of the Bon Air mining communities. I look forward to hearing from you with ideas and new information to further enhance the browsing experience of those who are also interested in these stories of our history.
Linda Mackie
President
Bon Air Mountain Historical Society
DeRossett Railroad Section House Site Improvements Completed
The Bon Air Historical Society celebrated the Grand Re-Opening of the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway (DeRossett Railroad) Section House Museum on Saturday, August 26, 2017. The section house museum had been closed while construction work for site improvements were being completed.
The work was funded with the assistance of a Transportation Enhancement Grant from the Tennessee Department of Transportation with matching funds provided by the White County Legislative Commission. The improvements include paved parking, sidewalks and walkways with park benches. Improvements were included to make access to the facility accessible to visitors with disabilities.
Site Plan, DeRossett Railroad Section House site improvements