Red Jacket, WV

Tucked into the rugged Tug Valley of southern West Virginia, Red Jacket is a small mountain community of roughly 500 residents in Mingo County. Named after the famed Seneca leader, the town originally grew as a coal camp where workers and their families settled along the narrow hollows. Its ties to the Red Jacket Consolidated Coal and Coke Company gave the community a lasting place in the region's famous labor and mining history.

ATTRFamartin / CC BY-SA 4.0

Today, Red Jacket offers a quiet, relaxed way of life surrounded by steep, wooded hills and winding creeks. Modest homes and a local post office dot the valley floor, giving the area a neighborly feel with deep Appalachian roots. It offers plenty of rural privacy, while keeping residents within an easy drive of everyday essentials and outdoor recreation in nearby Matewan and Williamson.