Amonate - first called Faraday began in 1924 with the #30 mine owned by Pocahontas Fuel Company. By 1925 the coal community consisted of a long line of houses in four different styles. During World War II Amonate employed over 2000 miners. Mines closed in 1960. Bishop - formed in 1930. It straddles the Va-West Va line. It was a small coal town named after Walter Bishop, chief engineer of Pocahontas Fuel Company. The original Post Office was called Shraders. Bishop suffered two mine explosions, one in 1957 with thirty - seven fatalities and 1958 with twenty-two. Bluefield Va. - began in 1883 and named after Colonel Thomas Graham from Philadelphia. He was in Tazewell County to survey for Norfolk and Western Railway. He purchased land and laid out the streets of an embryo town. Prior to being incorporated the name was Pinhook. In 1924 the name was changed to Bluefield to form a larger Bluefield area with Bluefield WV. Burkes Garden - discovered in 1745 by James Burk. Got its name from the fact that Burk planted potato peelings in 1748 at a campsite where he and Col. James Patton spent the night. Due to a bad snowfall they left and came back the next year to find the bed of potatoes that had grown from the peelings. They named the valley Burk's Garden. The e was later added and the post office dropped the apostrophe. Cedar Bluff - named by Thomas M. Scott when he opened a Post Office in his home. Incorporated about 1895. Probably received its name for the series of cedar covered bluffs in the area. At one time had two post offices located about a half -mile apart. Cedar Bluff is the birthplace of George C. Peery governor of Va (elected in 1934). The Cove - settled in late eighteenth century. Rees Bowen and family were the first settlers. It is located between the Clinch Mountain on the South and Paint Lick Mountain on the North. Doran - 1890- named in honor of a distinguished resident of the Quaker City, Joseph Doran. Frog Level - named by Jack Witten after all the frogs in the area. When he wrote an article for the Clinch Valley News he called it the Frog Level news. The name stuck. Horsepen- Post Office was established in July 1900. The community got its name from Cherokee Indians living nearby who used the area to corral their horses from the white man. It formed a natural corral. It is by the state line where McDowell County WV and Tazewell County VA meet. Jewell Ridge- built in 1915 by the Jewell Ridge Coal Corporation formed in 1912 by George St. Clair, a Wytheville lawyer, and Thomas Righter, a Pennsylvanian coal operator. They built 105 houses in the camp on the mountaintop for their employees. North Tazewell - once called Kelly - railroad came there in 1887. Name was probably changed because of its location near Tazewell. Pocahontas - Prior to 1881 it was a laurel thicket. Alexander St. Clair owned most of the land there at the time. Mining town developed in 1881 and 1882. Many Italians, Slavs, and Hungarians came to work the mines owned by Southwest Virginia Improvement Company. Raven - in 1914 was called the "Gateway to Buchanan County". Named after Frank Raven, who worked for a glass company in Richlands at one time but later moved to the area that bears his name. All travelers from Tazewell into Buchanan went by Raven since the main road to Grundy built across the mountains came out here where it intersected with other roads. Red Ash - located in the Western end of the County, it was named after the red ash left after burning coal mined in the area. Richlands - formed from the "rich lands" on both sides of the Clinch River. Christened in 1785. Town was laid out in 1888. Incorporated January 26, 1892. Springville- got its name from the number of springs in the area. The first school was built in the 1870's. In 1860 it had its own post office. Tazewell - Settled in 1773 when William Peery selected a homesite. Samuel Ferguson followed. Legislature created the county of Tazewell in 1799 and these men and others donated the land for the courthouse and town. It was first named Jeffersonville for Thomas Jefferson. Most info is from TAZEWELL COUNTY HISTORY VOL. 1. This book covers communities, schools, churches, and stories written by the citizens of Tazewell County.