Mid-lothian Mines Park to get new features

One of Chesterfield County's historical claims to fame is getting a modern makeover.

Mid-Lothian Mines Park opened in 2004 to pay tribute to the first commercial mining operation in North America.

Over the next two years, the park will see a few features added to boost interest in county history. The 44-acre site displays the remnants of mining operations built after coal was discovered there in 1701.

In the 1730s, the coal was mined commercially and later used to support the Revolutionary War. Mining brought about a boom in the early 1800s that helped the county to grow.

"It prompted the need for better transportation within the county, which saw the completion of the first hard-surface road in 1804, which became the Midlothian Turnpike, and the first railroad, which was the Chesterfield Railroad," said Bryan Truzzie, historic sites specialist with the county's Parks and Recreation Department.

In 1835, the Wooldridge family chartered the Mid-Lothian Coal Mining Co., sinking several mine shafts as deep as 722 feet. The Grove Shaft is the only stone structure remaining on the site. It was about 625 feet deep.

"It took nearly three years to dig with the use of 150 men, boys, slaves and free blacks," Truzzie said.

A 16-foot heavy timber tower will be built above the shaft, which will be capped underground, to offer visitors a better view.

"You'll be able to look down and get a much better appreciation for how the mining operations would have been and taste the history a little better," said Stuart Connock, chief of design and construction for Parks and Recreation.

The park also features the concrete remnants of a railroad trestle built in the early 1900s, which was "one of the last attempts to bring coal mining back to the area," Truzzie said.

A new heavy timber trestle bridge will be built across the creek on the property, completing the walkway system.

"Our idea was let's go back to the 1700s, 1800s. It'll be a nice period feature -- something interesting to see as well as functional," Connock said.

Detailed historical signs will be added to explain the history of mining and its relation to the village of Midlothian. New decorative fences will replace the chain-link fences surrounding the capped mines.

A meeting on the projects will be held Tuesday beginning at 6:30 p.m. at Watkins Elementary School.

The county has allocated $660,000 over two years toward the project to be supplemented with state and federal funding sources.

Contact Wesley P. Hester at (804) 649-6976 or .