The Kentucky Wildlands

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Blue Heron Mining Community

Highway 742
Stearns KY 42647
Blue Heron Mining Community
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Blue Heron, also known as Mine 18, is an abandoned coal mining town and was a part of the Stearns Coal and Lumber Company’s past operation. The Blue Heron mines operated from 1937, until December, 1962, when operations were no longer profitable. During that time, hundreds of people lived and worked in this isolated community on the banks of the Big South Fork River. Their story is the story of Blue Heron.