coal country

English

Mining settlement in Kentucky. (1945)
Kentucky Straight Creek Coal Company, Belva Mine (1945)

Etymology

From coal +‎ country.

Noun

coal country

  1. A region historically dependent on the coal mining industry.
    • 2017 March 1, Sana Saeed, “In Appalachia, some hope for a future without coal”, in Al Jazeera‎[1], archived from the original on 5 August 2025:
      Once known as coal country, this impoverished region of the US is trying to build a future without the coal industry. ... The area, once given the epithet of "coal country", has seen an increasing decline in economic activities over the past several decades.
    • 2020 June 23, Dustin Bleizeffer and Mason Adams, “Transition in Coal Country: Rural communities on the brink”, in WyoFile‎[2], archived from the original on 5 October 2023:
      Coal country in America is in the midst of a historic transition. Whether it’s Welch, West Virginia or Cumberland, Kentucky or Gillette, communities that have built their cultures and economies around coal face a future without it.
    • 2025 October 31, Wendigoon, “Journal of a Coal Miner’s Daughter”, in CreepCast‎[3]:
      Growing up around coal country, everyone’s got family members that were killed in the mines and stuff like that. There would always be legends about how their ghosts would haunt the mines. There’s a place near I grew up in Bell County, Kentucky, where there was a mine collapse back in the 20s...

Usage notes

Most famously the Appalachian region of the United States,[1] but also used for other mining areas like Scotland or regions in other countries.

References

  1. ^ Namely West Virginia and Kentucky, however, the term has also been applied to Wyoming in the west.
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