Mining museum to open in Rocky Top
ROCKY TOP, Tenn. (AP) – An East Tennessee town that changed its name to Rocky Top in an effort to attract more tourists is preparing to open a new attraction: the Coal Creek Miners Museum.
Anderson County Tourism Director Stephanie Wells told the Knoxville News Sentinel that the first floor of the nonprofit museum is expected to open within a month.
Displays will focus on the area’s coal mining history, including two tragic explosions that left killed several men and boys.
The town was originally known as Coal Creek. Officials changed the name to Lake City after the Tennessee Valley Authority created nearby lake Norris in the 1930s.
Officials changed the name again last year to Rocky Top to try to cash in on the fame of the bluegrass song “Rocky Top.”
