Big Stone Gap, Virginia

Town of Big Stone Gap, Virginia
Town
Central Big Stone Gap. Little Stone Mountain is visible in the background.
Seal
Location in the Commonwealth of Virginia
Country	United States
State	Virginia
County	Wise
Government
• Mayor	Barbara Orndorff
Area
• Total	4.9 sq mi (12.6 km2)
• Land	4.9 sq mi (12.6 km2)
• Water	0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2)
Elevation	1,535 ft (468 m)
Population  (2010)
• Total	5,643
• Density	996/sq mi (384.5/km2)
	U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 Population Estimates
Time zone	UTC-5 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP code	24219
Area code	276
FIPS code	51-07480Template:GR
GNIS feature ID	1496805Template:GR
Website	Official website

Big Stone Gap is a town in Wise County, Virginia, United States. The population was 5,643 at the 2010 census.

History

The community was formerly known as "Meneral City" and "Three Forks." The "Big Stone Gap" refers to the valley which has been created on the Appalachia Straight, located between Big Stone Gap and Appalachia.

Museums

Big Stone Gap is home to several museums. The June Tolliver House, located on Jerome Street, is home to the Trail of the Lonesome Pine, the official outdoor drama of Virginia.

Southwest Virginia Museum

The Southwest Virginia Museum is located in the downtown area. Big Stone Gap also hosts the Coal Museum.

Henry Meador Coal Museum

Federal court

The federal building named for C. Bascom Slemp was built in 1912 and it continues to house a division of the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia.

Wallens Ridge State Prison

Big Stone Gap is home to Wallens Ridge State Prison, a state prison that has been a part of the Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Corrections since 1999. Originally opened as a supermax prison, it has recently been downgraded to a "high level" security facility. Construction and maintenance of the facility generated millions of dollars for the local economy, suppressed from a sagging history of coal mining. While construction of Wallens Ridge did provide jobs, it currently provides only a small portion of the county's population with income.

Many groups have expressed outrage at the practice of shipping prisoners across the country into a rural Appalachian community, most notably the Thousand Kites project.

Notable people

Big Stone Gap is the birthplace of professional American football players and brothers Thomas Jones and Julius Jones. Both attended classes and played football at Powell Valley High School], a public school in the town.

Author Adriana Trigiani grew up in Big Stone Gap and wrote a series of novels about the town.

Film actor, writer, and logger CC Swiney was born and raised in Big Stone Gap.

Novelist and short-story writer John Fox, Jr. wrote about his experiences living among the coal miners in Big Stone Gap. He died there in 1919. Since 1964, a play version of Fox's novel The Trail of the Lonesome Pine has been performed in an outdoor theater in the town.

Miss America 1993 Leanza Cornett was born in Big Stone Gap, as was the opera singer, Roy Cornelius Smith.

Former Virginia governor Abner Linwood Holton Jr. was born in Big Stone Gap.

The former Piedmont blues musician, Carl Martin, was born near Big Stone Gap in 1906.

Around the end of the 19th century, some of Virginia's leading lawyers lived and worked in Big Stone Gap, including former Attorney General Rufus A. Ayers, Virginia Bar Association president Joshua Fry Bullitt, Jr., and Virginia Supreme Court justice Joseph L. Kelly.

Winfield H. Rose, professor of political science at Murray State University, was born in Big Stone Gap in 1941.

Geography

Big Stone Gap is located at 36°52′02″N 82°46′28″W (36.867165, -82.774471).Template:GR

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 4.9 square miles (12.6 km²), all land.

Big Stone Gap is at the junction of U.S. Route 23 and U.S. Route 58 Alternate.

Big Stone Gap is closer to the state capitals of seven other states than it is to Richmond, VA, its own state capital, with regards to highway milage. The other state capitals are Columbus, OH; Frankfurt, KY; Charleston, WV; Nashville, TN; Raleigh, NC; Columbia, SC; and Atlanta GA. Additionally Indianapolis, IN is only 6 miles further from Big Stone Gap than Richmond.

Demographics

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1990	4,748		—
2000	4,856		2.3%
2010	5,643		16.2%
source:

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2010, there were 5,643 people, 2,034 households, and 1,075 families residing in the town. The population density was 995.9 people per square mile (384.2/km²). There were 2,197 housing units at an average density of 450.6 per square mile (173.8/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 93.68% White, 4.41% African American, 0.14% Native American, 0.45% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.37% from other races, and 0.93% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.60% of the population.

There were 1,995 households out of which 29.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.7% were married couples living together, 15.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.2% were non-families. 30.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.34 and the average family size was 2.92.

In the town the population was spread out with 23.2% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 24.9% from 25 to 44, 25.1% from 45 to 64, and 17.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 86.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.5 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $21,584, and the median income for a family was $34,306. Males had a median income of $26,707 versus $21,915 for females. The per capita income for the town was $13,284. About 22.4% of families and 25.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 34.5% of those under age 18 and 15.1% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Main article: Wise County Public Schools (Virginia)

Big Stone Gap is home to three public schools: Powell Valley Primary, Powell Valley Middle, and Powell Valley High now known as Union High. Powell Valley High School was consolidated with Appalachia High School in the Fall of 2011; students from Appalachia High School were moved Union High School, renamed from Powell Valley High School.

Big Stone Gap is also home to Mountain Empire Community College.

King College, based in Bristol, Tennessee, has a satellite campus in Big Stone Gap at the Mountain Empire Community College location.

2008 Tornado

An EF-1 tornado touched down March 4, 2008, on Highway 58, running through downtown. The tornado caused a 300 yard wide, one mile long path of damage. It destroyed six homes, caused major damage to 15 homes, and minor damage to 25 others.