Williamson, WV

Williamson is Mingo County’s seat on the Tug Fork River, with Kentucky directly across the water at South Williamson. The city was incorporated in 1905, and its most unmistakable building is the Coal House downtown: a 1933 structure made from 65 tons of bituminous coal from the nearby Winifrede Seam. That one building tells the local story faster than a long list of facts. Williamson is also tied to the Hatfield-McCoy region and hosts the annual Hatfield-McCoy Reunion Festival, while Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College adds a present-day campus connection. The local shorthand is Tug Fork, coal, county-seat work, and Appalachian family history.