From her Beckley kitchen , Carol Dameron turns coal and scrip into art .
For some , it ’ s simply attractive , handmade jewelry . For other customers , it ’ s far more meaningful .
“ Sometimes customers get choked up , reminiscing about their coal camp days ,” she said . “ It means something . It strikes a chord with them .”
The emotions connected to the experience of being a coal miner — or being related to one — run as deep as the geologic seams from which that coal comes . Dameron sees it often when she speaks with customers at fairs , festivals and other events . “ People will get choked up , telling me their stories ,” she said . Her own story has the same effect on them . Dameron grew up at Cool Ridge , where she was adopted by foster parents at the age of 5 .
“ It was a blessing ,” she said . “ Dad was a coal miner , and he ’ d drive to Welch . I knew when Dad would double back — I knew what that meant .”
In coal miner jargon , doubling back means working backto-back shifts . The mines typically provided an extra meal to workers who would “ double back ,” and Dameron ’ s father saved the best part for her . So , to Dameron , a double back meant a treat .
“ That meant he was gonna bring me a Snowball cake in his lunch box . … It wasn ’ t all the time that he would double back , but sometimes he had to work a double shift , and when he ’ d come home , he ’ d say — and he called me Twiggy — ‘ there ’ s something for you in my lunch box .’ And there would be that Snowball , with that pink marshmallow fur . To this day I cannot eat one without crying . I get choked up every time I see one .”
Her father passed away in 2012 , just two years after Dameron started her business . He wore a tie tack she made — featuring a crossed pickaxe and coal shovel — in his hat . It was a treasured item , much like the 60-year pin he received from the United Mine Workers of America ..
“ Just before he died , he told me and my husband , ‘ some of those men were like brothers to me ,’ ” she said . “ He never regretted working in the mines . He loved it , and I have found that a lot with miners . The sacrifices they made for their families , that says a lot . … He died two days after he got that pin .”
Dameron often connects with customers through shared tragedies , like a mining accident or the loss of a loved one — sometimes both at once .
In 2020 , even though tourists weren ’ t buying West Virginia Coal Jewelry at the usual gift shops — like those at the Exhibition Coal Mine in Beckley , the Coal House in Logan , or the Tug Valley Chamber of Commerce — online business had picked up . “ I adapted ,” she said . “ In business , you have to adapt .” Still , it was a rough year . The day before Christmas , a mining accident crushed her nephew ’ s leg . Because he tested positive for Covid , surgery was delayed , and two weeks after the accident , he died from a pulmonary embolism , she said .
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