# Coal, Bluegrass & the Country Music Highway A 6-day, ~620-mile Southern road trip from Ashland, KY. It chains US 23: The Country Music Highway, US 52: The Mine Wars Road and The Crooked Road. - **Days:** 6 - **Distance:** ~620 mi - **Starts in:** Ashland, KY - **Themes:** Music, History - **Routes chained:** [US 23: The Country Music Highway](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/country-music-highway), [US 52: The Mine Wars Road](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/coal-mine-wars), [The Crooked Road](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/crooked-road) The mountains that gave America its music and its labor wars: US 23 past the homeplaces of a dozen country stars, the coalfield battlegrounds of Matewan, and Virginia's Crooked Road to the Carter Fold. ## Why this itinerary works Starting in Ashland, KY, this 6-day itinerary connects US 23: The Country Music Highway and US 52: The Mine Wars Road and The Crooked Road. It suits travellers interested in blues, country, jukes & jamborees; battlefields, the movement & the past. The day-by-day bases let you split roughly 620 miles into a sequence of visits rather than trying to cover every linked route end to end. Use the daily highlights to decide which places deserve your longest stops. ## Day by day ### Day 1: Ashland → Pikeville The Country Music Highway Museum at Paintsville and Loretta Lynn's Butcher Hollow cabin, then the astonishing Pikeville Cut-Through. Overnight Pikeville, Hatfield-McCoy country. Highlights to consider: - **Butcher Hollow** (Van Lear) — Loretta Lynn's cabin up the holler, long shown by kin from Webb's grocery below; ask in Van Lear and someone will point the way. [US 23: The Country Music Highway](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/country-music-highway) - **Pikeville Cut-Through** (Pikeville) — The town spent a decade moving a mountain, a river, a railroad and a highway; among the biggest earthmoving projects in the hemisphere. The overlook explains the audacity. [US 23: The Country Music Highway](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/country-music-highway) - **Mountain HomePlace** (Paintsville) — A working 1850s Appalachian farm at Paintsville Lake: oxen, gristmill, and the pre-coal mountains. [US 23: The Country Music Highway](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/country-music-highway) - **US 23 Country Music Highway Museum** (Paintsville) — The corridor's whole roster under one roof, Loretta to Stapleton; small museum, staggering per-capita output. [US 23: The Country Music Highway](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/country-music-highway) - **Dils Cemetery** (Pikeville) — Where the McCoys of the feud lie buried, integrated from its founding; the Hatfield-McCoy driving tour radiates from here. [US 23: The Country Music Highway](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/country-music-highway) ### Day 2: Into the coalfields → Matewan Over the line into West Virginia's US 52: the millionaire town of Bramwell, Welch's courthouse, and Matewan, where the 1920 mine-war shootout is told in the Mine Wars Museum. Overnight Williamson. Highlights to consider: - **Welch** (Welch) — On these courthouse steps in 1921, Baldwin-Felts agents shot Matewan's police chief Sid Hatfield dead, the murder that sent 10,000 miners marching on Blair Mountain. [US 52: The Mine Wars Road](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/coal-mine-wars) - **Bramwell** (Bramwell) — The town of coal barons, once claiming more millionaires per capita than anywhere in America; the mansions still line the Bluestone bend. [US 52: The Mine Wars Road](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/coal-mine-wars) - **Williamson Coal House** (Williamson) — An office building constructed of 65 tons of local coal in 1933, polished black and proud of it. [US 52: The Mine Wars Road](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/coal-mine-wars) - **Matewan & the Mine Wars Museum** (Matewan) — The 1920 shootout between miners and mine guards played out on this street; the museum tells the union war the textbooks skipped. Sayles' film got it right here. [US 52: The Mine Wars Road](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/coal-mine-wars) ### Day 3: → Bristol South through the mountains to Bristol, birthplace of country music: the museum on State Street and a burger at the Burger Bar. Overnight Bristol. Highlights to consider: - **Burger Bar** (Bristol) — Local legend holds Hank Williams was last seen alive near this counter, New Year's Eve 1952, his driver stopping while Hank slept (or didn't) in the Cadillac. Great smash burgers; heavier history than the menu admits. [The Crooked Road](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/crooked-road) - **Welch** (Welch) — On these courthouse steps in 1921, Baldwin-Felts agents shot Matewan's police chief Sid Hatfield dead, the murder that sent 10,000 miners marching on Blair Mountain. [US 52: The Mine Wars Road](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/coal-mine-wars) - **Kimball War Memorial** (Kimball) — Regarded as the first memorial in the country to Black WWI veterans, raised in 1928 by a coalfield county that sent thousands; restored and still gathering. [US 52: The Mine Wars Road](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/coal-mine-wars) - **Grayson Highlands Ponies** (Mouth of Wilson) — Wild ponies grazing mile-high balds beneath Mount Rogers, Virginia's rooftop. They will try to eat your sandwich; the views excuse them. [The Crooked Road](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/crooked-road) - **Damascus** (Damascus) — 'Trail Town USA' — the Appalachian Trail walks straight down Main Street. Shuttle up Whitetop and coast 17 miles of the Virginia Creeper rail grade back to town. [The Crooked Road](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/crooked-road) ### Day 4: The Crooked Road → Damascus The Carter Family Fold at Hiltons (Saturday shows), Abingdon's Barter Theatre, and Damascus, trail town of the Creeper. Overnight Abingdon or Damascus. Highlights to consider: - **Damascus** (Damascus) — 'Trail Town USA' — the Appalachian Trail walks straight down Main Street. Shuttle up Whitetop and coast 17 miles of the Virginia Creeper rail grade back to town. [The Crooked Road](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/crooked-road) - **Barter Theatre** (Abingdon) — Opened 1933: Depression admission payable in produce — 'ham for Hamlet.' Gregory Peck, Ernest Borgnine and Patricia Neal apprenticed here. Still doing rep year-round across two stages. [The Crooked Road](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/crooked-road) ### Day 5: Grayson Highlands → Galax Wild ponies at Grayson Highlands, then Galax: the Rex Theater and Barr's Fiddle Shop. Overnight Galax. Highlights to consider: - **Grayson Highlands Ponies** (Mouth of Wilson) — Wild ponies grazing mile-high balds beneath Mount Rogers, Virginia's rooftop. They will try to eat your sandwich; the views excuse them. [The Crooked Road](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/crooked-road) - **Galax: Rex Theater & Barr's Fiddles** (Galax) — Friday nights the Rex broadcasts 'Blue Ridge Backroads' live on WBRF 98.1 — walk in, sit down, it's free. Every August since 1935: the Old Fiddlers' Convention, the world's oldest and largest. Barr's Fiddle Shop is the clubhouse. [The Crooked Road](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/crooked-road) ### Day 6: → Floyd & Mabry Mill Up onto the Blue Ridge Parkway past Mabry Mill to Floyd — the Country Store's Friday Night Jamboree if you've timed it, flatfooting to close the week. Highlights to consider: - **Mabry Mill** (Meadows of Dan) — The most photographed spot on the entire Blue Ridge Parkway — gristmill, pond, and Sunday-afternoon old-time jams in season. Shared with the Parkway route; the atlas draws them side by side here. [The Crooked Road](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/crooked-road) - **Floyd Country Store** (Floyd) — The Friday Night Jamboree: gospel at 6:30, then old-time and bluegrass with the whole town flatfooting on hardwood. No alcohol, all ages, candy counter open. One of the last fully intact Saturday-night... on a Friday. [The Crooked Road](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/crooked-road) ## Practical planning Budget an average of about 103 miles per day across the whole trip, or roughly 2.3–3.4 hours behind the wheel at an assumed 30–45 mph back-roads pace. This is a planning estimate, not a measured time for each leg: transfer days can be longer and rest days shorter. Add meal stops, tours, ferries, traffic and hikes separately; use each day's navigation link for current driving estimates. ### Overnight bases - Day 1: Pikeville - Day 2: Williamson - Day 3: Bristol - Day 4: Abingdon or Damascus - Day 5: Galax - Day 6: near Floyd, VA ### Best season & route notes - [US 23: The Country Music Highway](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/country-music-highway): Jenny Wiley State Resort Park makes the natural overnight; the namesake's captivity legend is told there as legend. - [US 52: The Mine Wars Road](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/coal-mine-wars): The Mine Wars Museum keeps seasonal weekend-leaning hours; confirm before you route the day. - [The Crooked Road](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/crooked-road): The calendar IS the route: Floyd & Galax on Friday, Carter Fold & Savoy-style jams on Saturday — drive the gaps between. ## Frequently asked questions ### How many days and miles is Coal, Bluegrass & the Country Music Highway? Coal, Bluegrass & the Country Music Highway is a 6-day trip of about 620 miles. ### Where does Coal, Bluegrass & the Country Music Highway start? It starts in Ashland, KY. ### Which routes does Coal, Bluegrass & the Country Music Highway chain together? It chains US 23: The Country Music Highway, US 52: The Mine Wars Road and The Crooked Road. ### Where are the overnight bases on Coal, Bluegrass & the Country Music Highway? Day 1: Pikeville; Day 2: Williamson; Day 3: Bristol; Day 4: Abingdon or Damascus; Day 5: Galax; Day 6: near Floyd, VA. ## Related itineraries - [Crooked Road Ramble](https://dixieroadtrip.com/trips/crooked-weekend) — 3 days, ~220 mi - [High Country & Mountain Music](https://dixieroadtrip.com/trips/highcountry-week) — 7 days, ~620 mi - [The Eastern Crescent](https://dixieroadtrip.com/trips/eastern-crescent) — 15 days, ~1800 mi - [The Whole Hog](https://dixieroadtrip.com/trips/whole-hog) — 28 days, ~4300 mi - [The Long Way to the Opry](https://dixieroadtrip.com/trips/music-epic) — 21 days, ~3000 mi --- Canonical URL: https://dixieroadtrip.com/trips/coal-and-country Publisher: Dixie Media (Dixie Road Trip, https://dixieroadtrip.com/) Last updated: 2026-10-04