Athens, WV
Concord University
Discover a Mercer County campus with deep connections to the region's educational and rural history.
Photo: Christopher Ziemnowicz · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗
Stay · explore · build one responsible trip
Stay & explore.
Build a regional journey from Mercer County to coal and rail heritage, presidential sites, Civil War landscapes, caves, festivals, museums, and mountain scenery—then bring every discovery back to the county's story.
Start with the map
Explore destinations across the region.
Search or filter the map to discover museums, historic sites, coal and rail heritage, caves, festivals, scenic places, and other destinations across Mercer County and the surrounding region.
Use each destination's Directions link for a current route and travel estimate.Loading verified festival dates…
Select a marker for context, official information, directions, and Add to Trip. Displayed festival dates come from the separately verified date record; always recheck the linked official calendar before travel. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Colleges and universities
Higher Education Nearby
Explore colleges and universities in southern West Virginia and southwest Virginia. Visit each institution's official website for current tour schedules, admissions information, events, parking, and accessibility.
Bluefield, WV · HBCU founded 1895
Bluefield State University
Learn about a historically Black university shaped by the region's educational and community history.
Bluefield, VA
Bluefield University
Explore this neighboring Virginia campus just across the state line from Mercer County.
Blacksburg, VA
Virginia Tech
Plan a visit to the university's Blacksburg campus in Virginia's New River Valley.
Radford, VA
Radford University
Include a New River Valley campus visit in your regional plans.
Plan around a confirmed date
Full Events Calendar →Next 3 events at MCHS
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Major events nearby
Upcoming regional festivals
These are hosted by other organizations. Dates come from their official sources and should be rechecked before travel.
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Private itinerary wizard
Build one editable, day-by-day trip.
Choose a known starting city, trip length, pace, and interests. The draft stays in this browser; no address, account, or location service is used.
My Stay & Explore itinerary
The dashed line shows approximate stop order, not roads or live navigation.
Plan a Mercer County history visit
Mercer County History & Museum Map
Move from the broad regional map to documented local properties, districts, museums, and Society-published places.
Open the focused local map →Book a guided tour
Tell Society staff about your group, history interests, preferred date, and accessibility needs.
Start the tour wizard →Book an event
Ask about weddings, meetings, reunions, private events, available spaces, and catering.
Start the event wizard →Built around history
Choose a story for your trip.
Add an entire route, then open My History Trip to remove stops, copy the list, print it, or open combined directions. Selections remain only in this browser.
Civic & architectural history
Courthouse Square, historic homes, the former post office, Mercer Street, and the MCHS research center.
Coalfield, Black & educational history
Downtown, the Green Book district, First Baptist Church, Bluefield State, and the coal archives.
Coal-town architecture
Explore the historic districts, commercial core, coal-era residences, churches, and depot interpretation.
Education & rural history
Connect Concord University, the French House, and the history of rural communities and historic travel.
Museum day
Connect county, railroad, military, and agricultural collections without treating one museum as the whole story.
Archives & family research
Build a research day around MCHS, courthouse records, the library, and the Eastern Regional Coal Archives.
Read the landscape carefully
Historic markers, plaques & designations.
Our trip planner does not label every historic place as a roadside marker. The kind of record matters, and access must be checked before visiting.
National Register listing
A listed property or district has federal documentation, but listing does not guarantee a roadside sign, museum access, parking, or permission to enter.
Browse all 20 baseline listings →Highway marker
A state marker should have its marker ID, current coordinates, exact wording, sponsor, date, and a recent field check before the site calls it present.
Local plaque or monument
Record who installed it, when, what it commemorates, where it stands, and whether newer evidence changes or expands the interpretation.
Cemetery, church or private property
Respect posted rules, visiting hours, active worship, burials, residents, and property boundaries. Exterior viewing from a public right-of-way may be the only appropriate access.
Staff-reviewed additions
Help improve the marker record.
Society staff can publish a verified marker or correction with coordinates, access notes, citations, photographs, alt text, and credit. Visitors should send observations rather than changing the public record directly.
Send a marker observation →Stay, eat & plan
Use current local visitor information.
MCHS focuses on historical interpretation. Lodging, dining, transportation, and recreation listings change frequently, so those details remain with local tourism partners.
Make history the destination
Need a human-guided visit?
Send one structured request so staff can review the date, group, interests, access needs, and whether your plans require a tour or event rental.