Name/Title
Blair Mountain, South Crest: 46LG221, Site A (SC2), Archaeological SiteEntry/Object ID
SC2.46LG221.06Description
The South Crest of Blair Mountain was part of a large defensive line on the southern portion of the Blair Gap Area, one of the most heavily fortified sectors during the battle. The majority of the defenders positioned here were volunteers from Huntington, WV. Disturbances to the area post-1921 include a fire tower built, a ranger's cabin, and a road in to both from Route 17 (which passes over the ridge).
Nida lists two sites for South Crest, SC1 and SC2. Bagged artifacts from the Ayers Team dig are labeled only as either "A", or no label, and they eventually combined the two sites into one. Here these sites are divided into Site A and Site B. The is is the Site A collection, formerly SC2.
SC2 is about 140 meters down the spine from SC1, closer to Blair Gap. Area is thought to be much larger than the small sample (10m by 5m) where these artifacts were recovered. Items here are from a dig on November 19, 2006, and is entirely comprised of casings.Context
"This is the South Crest of the Blair Mountain site, well known by historians and collectors as a focal point of the Battle of Blair Mountain. It was briefly investigated by the 1991 survey of WVU, the results of which indicated that while this massive site had been heavily disturbed by construction of a fire tower and it's attendant road as well as collectors, it would likely yield some intact remains. Further investigations were recommended.
To the casual visitor of the South Crest, the disturbance is very evident, and little of archaeological value is to be found at the fire tower site and its road. But if one gets off the road, intact evidence is present. It is hard to say how much is left intact, or where the boundaries of the site are, but our survey documented battle remains in two separate areas about 150 meters apart. While we noticed metal detector "hits" in between (more than likely battle-related shells), these two areas were clearly dense concentrations of artifacts and other battle-related archaeological remains. We decided to lump these two concentrations of artifacts into one site, the expanded definition of which in the future will hopefully fully define the South Crest of the Blair Mountain site.
Both of these areas were on the north slope of the South Crest, facing the Blair Mountain Gap, the site of both the modern road, WV-17, and the terminus of the old road which came up White Trace Branch and can still be seen as it passes through the gap. This latter road was the one used presumably by both the miners coming from the town of Blair to the north and the Logan defenders coming from the town of Logan to the south, as they approached the battle site surrounding the gap."
(Ayers Team, 2006)Collection
Blair Mountain ArchaeologyRelationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Blair Mountain Archaeology GroupRelated Places
Place
Region
Blair Area, Blair Mountain Battlefield, SoutheastContinent
North AmericaLocation
Blair Gap: South CrestRelated Events
Event
Battle of Blair Mountain (1921)Provenance
Provenance Detail
Archaeological FindNotes
11/19/2006
