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Invitation to attend the 12th annual
Mining History Field Trip for
Briceville School students
and assist with a
Ground-Penetrating Radar
study at the
Fraterville Itinerant
Miners' Cemetery

3502 Overlook Circle, Knoxville, TN 37909
865-584-0344    www.coalcreekaml.com

WHO: Briceville School students and Individuals interested in preserving Tennessee mining history


Historical Highway Marker along
Fraterville Miners’ Memorial Highway
WHAT: Participate in ground-penetrating radar study at Fraterville Itinerant Miners’ Cemetery with archaeologists from the University of Tennessee.  Study will be conducted as research for award-winning author Fred Brown who is gathering information for a book on Coal Creek history.
WHEN: 8:30 am until 11:30 am on Friday, 18 May 2012  
WHERE: Fraterville Itinerant Miners’ Cemetery located off Wilson Lane in Fraterville.
(See map below)


Owen Bailey telling the story of the cemetery
in his backyard off Wilson Lane during
previous Fraterville Mine disaster tour 

Disaster struck the Coal Creek watershed on 19 May 1902 when the Fraterville Mine exploded.  Knoxville Sentinel articles from 1902 reported that 216 bodies were removed from the mine, but the monument at Fraterville Miners’ Circle contains only 184 names. 

That’s because itinerant miners worked with the experienced Fraterville miners.  Bodies of unclaimed miners were reportedly buried adjacent to the abandoned railroad spur leading to the mine.  Some are marked with fieldstones and others are unmarked.  The study will attempt to reconcile the difference between the reported number of bodies removed from the mine and the number of named miners.  

Briceville students will also hike to the abandoned Fraterville Mine portal as part of their annual mining history field trip before travelling to Cracker Barrel for lunch. 

For questions about the tour, please contact Carol Moore at (865) 584-0344 or clmoore@geoe.com.