Today we had a somewhat later morning which was nice to sleep in. However, the day started off another day with a bus delay, except it was the public buses. The bus was about 15-20 minutes late, but once we got on we were able to sit on the second level which was nice to see all the scenery on the way to the Black County LivingMuseum in Dudley, which was about an hour bus ride away. We got a nice latte when we got there and started off with a tour of the underground mines, or a replica of what the underground mines looked like during this time period.
We were warned again and again that it would be claustrophobic and very dark down there, but nothing could have prepared me to experience the truth to this statement. The ceilings were low, the tunnels were narrow, and it was pitch black, sometimes even with the flashlights we had. The tour guide, Mick, explained to us that the level of light output that the flashlights had was accurate to the time period as the miners only had candles. This was very interesting to me as, considering the darkness, they probably had very little visibility to walk, let alone do their jobs. On the tour, we were first greeted with Billy, who was the boy who operated the door to the mines. The tour explained how Billy has a very rough job as he makes around 6 pence per day, sits in complete darkness alone all day, and has to remain awake through a 12 hour shift. Billy was said to be about 10 years old which is crazy considering most of my generation could not even imagine working a job, let alone a job like that, at 10 years old. On the tour, we also got to see the pulley system they would use to not only get coal out of the mines, but men would use to get in and out as well. It was a large system with a bucket that multiple men would grab onto and be lugged up. However, there would be upwards of 12-20 men on the bucket holding on to get pulled up, so they quite literally had to hold on for dear life. We got to see all the different positions and places in which the workers would do their jobs and it made me claustrophobic just looking at it. Even the noises were enough to make me jump and grab onto Anna because I knew she’d protect me. Touring the mine was also interesting as there are some parallels to Western Pennsylvania as they both claim to be the start of the Union and they have similar history when it comes to the mining history of both places. Overall, touring the mines gave me a newfound appreciation for a profession I never really thought of before and really opened my eyes to the conditions of a working man during this time period.
After our tour, we went to have lunch, and I had my first Jacket potato of the trip, so I can check that one off the to-do list at least. The building was the workers union so It had some different trinkets to replicate the time period as well as make the building feel homey. I got a cheddar Jacket potato and it was delicious. After this, we shopped around a little bit and went to the school house where we were given a “lesson” by one of the museum’s actors. He was a funny guy and told us that we were getting his lenient side as it was 1960s weekend and the lesson was set in 1968, so he could not be as hard on us. We got to do the alphabet, times tables, and sing a song. The school was right next to the carnival which was our next stop. We rode the carousel, the rocket ships, and the swings. It was so fun to go to the carnival and feel like a kid again. Behind the carnival there was a little second hand market that also had a lot of cute stuff for free.
Today was a good day as it was an amazing mixture of fun, learning, and of course, shopping. See you tomorrow!
