At times we may be able to offer a variety of guided tours available for larger groups of only up to one hour . (Private tour guides for groups under 10 persons will not normally be offered) This service is subject to our unpaid volunteer availability. Please call to check with Historian Carson Camp, phone 423-949-2156.
ALL Park Grounds and facilities are closed at Sundown.
Incline Hike
During the winter months experienced hikers with good hiking boots and other proper equipment climb the 3,900-foot old incline rail bed to the top of the bluffs and explore the area where coal was once mined.
This area is on posted private land, (Hanging Rock Gun Club) proceed at your own risk, on unimproved trails. Hiking this trail during the summer months is not recommended, due to many hazards. If you proceed, be extremely cautious and watchful of possible rattlesnakes and yellow jacket wasp which are present on the bluffs.
Coal mines tunnels in this area are extremely dangerous so Do Not Enter. This region outside the park is not recommended for small children or people with any health issues due to the severe steepness of the route loose rocks and sheer drop-offs. This area could be closed at times by the landowner.
School Field-Trips
The Coke Ovens Museum and Park is a great location for a School Field Trip. Students can bring a sack lunch to eat at our pavilion while enjoying the great outdoors! Group use requires reservations for the availability of pavilion and public restrooms being open. Park rules require proper adult supervision with all children under age 18 on all park grounds. This is a Historic Site, there are no playgrounds or ball fields in this park. Stay with your children at all times.
Do not allow children to climb on walls or remove any stone.
The Walking Tour
The museum is open only during summer months and only on the weekends dependent on volunteer-guided or self-guided walking tour around the Coke Ovens Park offers the visitor an opportunity to spend some time walking through the quiet woods discovering the ruins of a once great industrial complex. Most of these routes are old railroad trails and are quite level. Do not climb on oven walls due to loose rocks. Video cameras monitor and record activity within the park.
Directions: Highlighted numbers are identified below this sketch as a reference to the park locations on this map, these numbers do not exist on the park grounds. (Download Map)
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1. Visitor Register Booth and Mine Car 2. Dunlap Depot Replica (removed) 3. Dewayne Dixon Memory Shelter 4. Original site of Company Store 5. Location of Main Rail Line and Donated Caboose 6. Cement Bags – were originally in cloth bags 7. Coke Ovens built in 1916 – these were the last to be constructed 8. Excavated Ovens – through to Amphitheater Stage 9. Gap between Ovens 10. Loading wharf and Railroad Bed 11. East End of Ovens and Loading Wharf 12. Rail recovered from Railroad Bed 13. Amphitheater and Trail of Tears Route 14. Firebrick Arch for Oven 15. 1902 Coke Ovens – first to be constructed 16. Tipple and 1906 Coal Washer Ruins |
17. 1906 Ovens – excavated 18. Location of Railroad – three tracks 19. Oven Archways on both sides – 1906 20. Firebrick Arch – west end 21. Melted Fire Brick Domes 22. Mine Replica 23. Early Mine Equipment 24. Company Mule Barn location 25. Flower Garden and Flag Pole 26. Cold Springs and Cook Creek 27. Juanita Wooden Donated Shelter 28. Park Restroom 29. Park Entrance Sign 30. Trail to Water Tank Site and Trail of Tears Route. 31. Path to Tank Concrete Pad & Trail of Tears path. 32. 3900-foot Incline Path to the Top |