A narrow dirt road between the small mountain community of Bat Cave and the larger tourist mecca of Chimney Rock has taken on outsized significance to area residents and on social media.
A group of miners from West Virginia built the road a week ago. For three days, they used equipment provided by their employer, Alpha Metallurgical Resources Inc., to build a trail along the Rocky Broad River.
The single-lane dirt road provided the first vehicular access to several homes since the remnants of Hurricane Helene washed away US 64/74A between the two communities. As they worked, the men encountered residents who had not seen people in weeks, said Mark Staton, owner of the building that houses the Bat Cave Post Office and who helped house the miners.
“They encounter people who have not had any help; they have had no power; they haven’t had water, they haven’t had access,” Staton said in an interview. “So without the miners here, we would still be in the same place we were a week after the storm.”
The miners’ work was extensively documented with videos and posts on TikTok and other social media. West Virginia Governor Jim Justice posted a photo of the men on X and said their actions were a reminder that the state’s miners are “the absolute best in the world.”
“These men came to the aid of North Carolina and helped rebuild the road from Bat Cave to Chimney Rock – which some thought was impossible,” Justice wrote. “Thank you for pulling the string together and being awesome!”
Tennessee-based Alpha declined to comment on its employees’ work. The miners did the same via Staton.
On social media, their achievement is fueled into a narrative about government incompetence and Appalachian bootmaking. The “West Virginia Boys Get Hair Done” and “WV Boys Got It Done,” reports say, as government agencies hesitate.
“This is American exceptionalism right here!” someone posted on X. “The government can’t believe what private citizens can do!”
Another reminder why West Virginia miners are the absolute best in the world. These men came to the aid of North Carolina and helped rebuild the road from Bat Cave to Chimney Rock – which some thought was impossible. Thank you for pulling the string together and being awesome! pic.twitter.com/09SxPJYYCD
— Governor Jim Justice (@WVGovernor) October 27, 2024
In reality, the NC Department of Transportation has been busy in the Rocky Broad River valley.
The miners were able to take their equipment to Bat Cave on US 74A, which NCDOT and its contractors partially rebuilt. The faded US 64 bridge at Bat Cave, which connects the community to Hendersonville, reopened late last week.
NCDOT expects to complete a temporary two-lane gravel road between Bat Cave and Chimney Rock within four to six weeks, spokesman David Uchiyama said. Uchiyama said that for the foreseeable future, use of that road will be limited to local residents and business owners, emergencies and people involved in construction.
The flood took over the road and ground beneath it
The section between Bat Cave and Chimney Rock will be especially difficult to rebuild. The rushing water that swept away homes and businesses took not only the sidewalk but also the earth beneath it, leaving in many places nothing but a wide, rocky riverbed.
The process of rebuilding US 64/74A began on the east side in Chimney Rock, where Village Administrator Stephen Duncan has been watching its progress. Countless trucks full of rocks drove through the city to create the gravel track to Bat Cave.
“These bulldozers they have there, including two from the U.S. Army, are bigger than houses,” Duncan said in an interview. ‘I didn’t know they made bulldozers that big. It’s great.”
Duncan drove to Bat Cave on the road the miners built in West Virginia and understands why it is celebrated. But he said their path is only suitable for off-road vehicles and trucks and SUVs with high ground clearance and cannot be compared to NCDOT’s road, which can support everything from passenger cars to heavy equipment.
He said the village fire brigade had to rescue at least one vehicle that had ended up on the road the miners had built.
“A car can drive quite a ways through it, but there are at least two places where there is a dip and a creek runs through it,” he said. “Unless you have a very, very tall vehicle, you can get stuck.”
Some media reports have exaggerated the miners’ achievements, including an article in the New York Post stating that they had moved a mountain “to reopen a 2.7-mile stretch of Highway 64 between Bat Cave and Chimney Rock .”
To clear up any misunderstandings, the fire department of nearby Edneyville posted on Facebook that when someone says the roads to Bat Cave are open, it means they are “somewhat passable” and usually no more than a single row of sand or gravel .
“Saying they are open does not accurately reflect what most people think,” the post said. “Again, these roads are open enough for residents to access their homes and for emergency vehicles.”
“We hear you need a road.”
Staton said West Virginia miners initially came to Western North Carolina after Hurricane Helene to help search for bodies. Through word of mouth among private volunteer groups, they were eventually referred to Bat Cave residents.
“They said, ‘Hey, we got these guys, we hear you need a road,’” Staton said. “They have big equipment. These are the people who can do it. Can we send them down to see what they can do?’”
NCDOT is reluctant to criticize the miners’ work. Spokesman Uchiyama said the department appreciates their intentions, but notes the differences between what they built and what NCDOT is doing.
“Their creation of a path – not enough to support vehicular traffic – south of the Bat Cave took place on private property and beyond the reach of transportation officials,” Uchiyama wrote in an email.
He added that NCDOT and its contractors are constructing the two-lane gravel road “where it should be” along the former trail, avoiding private property.
The dirt road between Bat Cave and Chimney Rock will be temporary. NCDOT expects to award a contract in late November to design and construct a permanent road at approximately the location of the old one. The department expects the work, which will include moving the river in many places, to take two to three years, Uchiyama said.
For now, the view from US 64/74A from the Bat Cave post office has changed little in the month since Helene. The road simply disappears, the sidewalk washed away or covered with several meters of mud and debris.
Staton says he thinks the publicity surrounding the West Virginia miners has drawn new attention to Bat Cave’s plight, which could speed government assistance. Either way, their work was an emotional boost.
“We need small victories. We need hope. We need something to build on,” he said. “And that’s what they gave us.”
