Spent two separate days in Pikeville recently. Wanted to see what their Hatfield-McCoy Museum was all about and was not disappointed.
The first day I went there I found the museum located on the 4th floor f their jail building which was their government building. that building now sits behind a new government building both located in downtown Pikeville. This was a bit confusing to find but once I found it I had to deal with more confusion as to when they are open. The museum is not open on Sunday or Monday--and I'm not sure about Saturday so check before you drive there.
Once you find the entry the trip becomes well worth the effort. Not only does the museum host artifacts from the feud but it is also an ongoing history of the region, the coal industry, the railroads and the people who were the residents of the area. Not content to let you browse unattended through the collections the museum provides an expert in local history to sort of story tell you through the various exhibits which added to my visit.
On my second drive over there I followed the road signs to various locations to see cemeteries, cabins and wells that played a part in the feud story. I read in the paper that this trail just received big bucks to improve the experience so future visitors should find an even better trail than the one I found. My interest was based on my story telling of Bad John Wright who lead a gang to Pikeville and into West Virginia on horseback looking for a bunch of Hatfield's to kill as he favored the McCoy side in their feud. He couldn't find any that day so his gang returned home to Letcher County without any scalps to show for their efforts.
The Hatfield's were large timber barons with a lot of political clout which is one reason the West Virginia Governor took no action against them during the feud. And surprisingly only 12-13 people died during their hostilities. For instance, during the French-Eversole feud in Perry County it is estimated that 75-100 people died. It was hard to nail down an exact number since there were so many ambush attacks where bodies and names were not recorded. The Hatfield-McCoy feud occurred just after the Civil War when the nation was trying to heal its wounds It involved two states not cooperating with each other so there was tension that these states might lead other states to separate again from the nation which created national headlines.
