When I was growing up in the Beckley area, the city had a kinda catchy slogan: “The city with a MINE of its own!” That “mine” is the Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine, one of the city’s longest-enduring tourist attractions. The slogan persisted for years, until the state decided to spend millions of tax dollars on an overpriced gift shop for locally-made folk items, called Tamarack. Then, Beckley switched to the much less imaginative slogan, “Beckley, Home of Tamarack!” As I shake my head about that one, I should mention, it may be a good idea for you to read my […]