The Moonville Tunnel adventure

~These pictures were taken in August "2004" on one of our many adventures which are always interesting and FUN!

Stephen, Misty, Denny and I went in search of The Moonville Tunnel which is just outside of Athens, OH in Vinton County and after driving around out in the "boonies", finally found it!

The town of "Moonville" was born when the Marietta and Cincinnati railroad was built through the coal- and iron-rich woods of southeastern Ohio in 1856. At its peak in the 1870s, the town boasted a population of more than 100--almost exclusively miners and their families. There was a row of houses along the railroad tracks, a sawmill just down Raccoon Creek, a general store, and a saloon. In its early days the residents of Moonville worked in the Hope Furnace nearby {top photo shows Misty and I standing in front of what remains of Hope Furnace}, but later on they turned almost exclusively to mining coal underground. The coal was then used in the many iron furnaces in the vicinity, usually the one at Hope, where weapons and artillery for the Union Army were made during the Civil War.

The tunnel is said to be haunted by a man who was decapitated by the train after he tried to flag down the train at night with a lattern to warn the conductor that the town had a major outbreak of small pox. Although we saw no ghosts during our little adventure that day, there have been many documented sightings and this fact makes it alittle more eerie when wandering through the dark tunnel.

The second photo is Misty trying to decide the best way to cross the creek! The trestle bridge had been removed sometime during the late 1970's so the only way to get to the tunnel was to cross the creek which is about 2-3 foot deep and almost always cold from the mountain springs that empty into it.

We were all a bit damp and cold on the way back but looking forward to eating at our favorite stop, the SONIC Drive-In located in Nelsonville, OH! After a long day of hiking through the woods we were all starved and ordered a bunch of food which we sat in the truck and ate then proceeded to head home, stuffed "to the gills" and quite content!