Fraterville Mine disaster
The Fraterville Mine disaster was a coal mine explosion that occurred on May 19, 1902 near the community of Fraterville, in the U.S. state of Tennessee. Official records state that 216 miners died as a result of the explosion, from either its initial blast or from the after-effects, making it the worst mining disaster in the United States' history, and remains the worst disaster in the history of Tennessee. However, locals claim that the true number of deaths is greater than this because many miners were unregistered and multiple bodies were not identified. The cause of the explosion was likely ignition of methane gas which had built up after leaking from an adjacent unventilated mine.
Fraterville Miners' Circle
Rocky Top is a city in Anderson and Campbell counties in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Tennessee, northwest of Knoxville. The population was 1,628 at the 2020 US Census. Most of the community is in Anderson County and is included in the Knoxville Metropolitan Statistical Area. On June 26, 2014, the city officially changed its name from Lake City to Rocky Top, after a last-ditch effort by the copyright owners of the song "Rocky Top" was denied by a federal court.
Rocky Top City Hall
Child coal miners at Cross Mountain Mine near Coal Creek, 1910. Photo by Lewis Hine.