Dunn Memorial Park

        The Dunn Cemetery, which was originally called "The Old Cannelton Burial Ground," has been the primary burial ground for residents of the mining community of Cannelton throughout its history of at least one hundred sixty-nine years. Most of the other mines and mining communities that now exist in the Kanawha coal field and in West Virginia were not established until after the Chesapeake & Ohio railroad began providing service into the Kanawha Valley in 1873, (West Virginia: A History; Rice, p. 185).  Since Cannelton was one of the only settlements between Charleston and Kanawha Falls, it was one of the stage coach stops on the Midland Trail (Panorama of Fayette County, Cavalier, p. 302) and Union solders enroute from Charleston to join the Union army's Spring Campaign of 1864 camped there. One of the first company towns was created at Cannelton when housing for the miners was constructed in 1859. Slaves worked the Cannelton mine until the advent of the Civil War, but freed slaves and newly arrived immigrants from Europe were recruited to work in the Cannelton mine after the Civil War. During the 1870's a visitor to the area may have heard English, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Russian spoken in Cannelton since it had become a community comprised of persons of many nationalities.

         The history of the Cannelton mine and community began in 1848, when Ben Burdette, while engaged in Col. Aaron Stockton's lumbering enterprise on Cannelton Mountain, discovered cannel coal, a type of coal that was extremely valuable.  History of Cannelton, Yesterday and Today, 2001, Cannelton Reunion Association (Nadine Reidler and James H. Kilburn), Chapter One, p.2). By 1849, Col. Stockton was mining cannel coal on Cannelton Mountain and by 1850 he was using flatboats to ship his coal to cities along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. (Source: City of Smithers, WV, Fayette County, 1988, John Cavalier, Smithers, WV. p7). Ben Burdette spent the remainder of his life working in Col. Stockton's mine and living in the Cannelton community. By 1859, there was a mountaintop settlement at Cannelton consisting of a small store and forty dwellings, but soon after completion of the dwellings a forest fire destroyed the entire settlement. The destroyed houses were soon replaced by a new set of company dwellings built on Smithers Hill. (Source: History of Cannelton, Yesterday and Today, 2001, Cannelton Reunion Association, (Nadine Reidler and James H. Kilburn), Chapter One, p.5). Although the Cannelton mine had changed hands many times previously, the newly incorporated Cannelton Coal and Coke Company acquired the 2,100 acre enterprise in 1871 and operated it until 2003. (Source: City of Smithers, WV, Fayette County, 1988, John Cavalier, Smithers, WV. p8).  In 1876, the first post office to service the Cannelton area was established at Cannelton's Kanawha river barge port. That post office was located at the site of the present city of Montgomery, West Virginia, but it bore the name of Cannelton Station until the city of Montgomery was incorporated on April 1, 1891. The city of Smithers, Cannelton's nearest neighbor, was not incorporated until 1938; therefore, Cannelton was the first settlement to be established in the vicinity of Smithers-Montgomery, West Virginia. Sources: City of Smithers, WV, Fayette County, 1988, John Cavalier, Smithers, WV; History of Cannelton, Yesterday and Today, 2001, Cannelton Reunion Association (Nadine Reidler and James H. Kilburn).

        The Dunn Cemetery, which is located on Col Stockton's original mining claim is near the Cannelton tipple on the north side of US Route 60, opposite the city of Montgomery, WV., has been the primary burial site for the residents of Cannelton since the community was established over 150 years ago. Helen S. Stinson, who surveyed and record some 134 identifiable graves in Dunn Cemetery in 1981, stated that there are hundreds of unmarked graves scattered over two hillsides. Additionally, this writer, using family genealogy research and other records of burials at Dunn Cemetery, identified an additional 100 burials at Dunn Cemetery. Based upon the inscriptions on tombstones still standing in Dunn Cemetery, Helen S. Stinson proved that the following two persons were buried there in 1836: Celey Harvey, wife of one John Harvey, and J.B. Harvey, son of Celey and John Harvey. There are also a number of tombstones dating from the 1840's and 1850's still standing in Dunn Cemetery. Therefore, it has been proven beyond any doubt that Dunn Cemetery has been the Cannelton community's burial ground for one hundred sixty-nine years.

          Slaves did the mining in the Cannelton Mountain mine prior to the Civil War. (Source: History of Cannelton, Yesterday and Today, 2001, Cannelton Reunion Association, Nadine Reidler and James H. Kilburn, P. 3), so it is likely that Dunn Cemetery also contains the graves of some of these African-American captives. The technology needed to make underground mining safe did not exist during the 1850's. Also, it is unlikely that the owners of the Cannelton mine were willing to bear the cost of burying slaves in private cemeteries. Therefore, it is a near certainty that slaves died while working in the Cannelton mine and that they were buried somewhere on the 2,100 acres of Cannelton Mountain that were owned by the Cannelton mining company. Since most of that property was taken up by coal mining operations it is a near certainty that the area originally used for slave burials is included in the acreage which later became the Old Cannelton Burial Ground. The name of the cemetery was changed to "the Dunn Cemetery" when Canadian owners acquired the Cannelton Coal Company. Therefore, it is very probable that the site now known as the Dunn cemetery was the burial place of slaves who died while working the Cannelton mine.

          Cannel coal was very valuable during the mid 1800's because it had such a high oil content that kerosene oil could be extracted from it. At that time candles and kerosene oil lamps were the primary means of lighting America's homes and offices. Thus, in 1856, a plant was built at Cannelton to extract kerosene oil from the cannel coal that was being mined there and kerosene oil soon came to be known as "coal oil." By the late 1850's the Cannelton "coal oil" factory was producing up to 3,000 gallons of kerosene per day. (Source: City of Smithers, WV, Fayette County, 1988, John Cavalier, Smithers, WV. p8). The production of kerosene oil continued at Cannelton until the country's first oil wells came into production in 1866. Since it was Cannelton's coal oil plant that fueled the lamps which provided light for American homes and business establishments during the coal oil age, the site is of national historical importance.

        It was as fuel for American steel mills and steam boilers that coal came to be recognized as one of the absolutely essential ingredients in America's industrial development. The American steel industry developed a huge appetite for coal in the form of coke, for coke was an essential ingredient in the production of high quality steel. This led to the construction of 92 beehive type coke ovens at Cannelton to help meet that need, (Source: City of Smithers, WV, Fayette County, 1988, John Cavalier, Smithers, WV. p8). By 1879, the upper Kanawha Valley and New River coal fields shipped 365,523 tons of coal and 19,748 tons of coke to American steel mills and factories. (Source: Cannelton Reunion Association, Nadine Reidler and James H. Kilburn, P. 9). Thus, Cannelton, which was an early pioneer in the development of West Virginia's coal industry, was an important player in the nation's industrial development. Other sources: History of Fayette County, Carden & Peters, 1926, Fayette County Historical Society; Panorama of Fayette County, Cavalier.

         Many, if not most, mining communities practiced racial segregation by providing separate housing areas for whites and African-Americans but Cannelton's housing was always integrated. Cannelton's policy regarding access to company housing was first come, first served, without regard to race. However. during the time the author lived in Cannelton's racially integrated housing, he observed that in Gallagher and several other coal mining villages African-American families were forced to live in separate areas termed "black town." Although his family of origin and as well as many other families who resided in Cannelton's several neighborhoods lived amid African-American neighbors, this author has no knowledge of the existence of any racial conflict among the families of that community. Thus, Cannelton's establishment of integrated housing made it a leader in the fight for racial equality in the United States.

        It is this writer's opinion there there is much of major historical importance in the long history of the Cannelton community and its Dunn Cemetery. First, Cannelton, being the first coal mine and mining community to be established in West Virginia's most productive coal field, was an important player in the industrial development of West Virginia. The fact that slaves were probably buried on Cannelton Coal Company land makes it imperative that the site be preserved due to it's importance in African-American history and its value as a site for future historical and archeological research. Additionally, the site should be preserved as a memorial to those brave African-Americans who were forced to labor their lives away in the coal mines of West Virginia. Third, for more than 150 years the Dunn Cemetery was the primary burial ground of Cannelton, a community comprised of persons of different races and many nationalities. Fourth, Cannelton gained national importance during the "coal oil age" as a major producer of fuel for the lamps that provided light in American homes and offices. Fifth, since Cannelton was one of the first mining communities in which employee housing was fully integrated, the site has historical importance as an example of West Virginia's early progress towards racial equality.        

      In conclusion, this writer submits that the information contained herein shows with utmost clarity that the Dunn Cemetery is of such historical importance that the preservation and protection of the site should be given the highest priority by the State of West Virginia and the federal government. This author also submits that these data show that Cannelton and its Dunn Cemetery are of such historical importance that there are compelling reasons for listing both sites in the National Registry of Historical Places.

    Bert W. Hudson,
    Feb. 9, 2005,
    San Angelo, Texas