Great video! I grew up in Coalwood and remember Homer's rockets well. My Dad worked in the Machine Shop there. Coalwood presented several problems for filming the movie. There were very few hotels for Production Staff. Also Coalwood lies in several very narrow hollers. This presented lighting problems in daylight scenes and limited hours of filming. Oliver Springs was perfect because it was much more open to light. It was also a coal mining area and it's close proximity to Oak Ridge and Knoxville provided staff and hotel accommodations. Many thanks for the video. I appreciate you all!👍
I lived in Oliver Springs Tn, 1980 's never knew much about it's history except for the famous mineral springs. Never knew about the hospital,The corner drug store was still being used. I lived at 210 Ann St and the Veaches were my wonderful neighbors. I loved that little town , At the time I worked in Oak Ridge,Tn,thanks for the memories,
My dad and my step-mom use to have U-Save Auto Repair. He and I were talking about October Sky. He told me when they filmed it there it was a sight to behold. He was very proud of it.
My Dad was born there at Dr. Fred Stone's hospital in 1955 and I believe my uncle (his younger brother) was as well. Love the history on our small town!
Thanks Melody and Shane!I grew up in Donaldson,Tennessee, on the Stone river right where it emptied into the Cumberland river.A farmer owned all the land up in that corner, and only had to build two lines of fence for his animals, because the rivers served as fence on two sides.That was my stomping grounds!
I was born in this hospital in 1945. Dr. and Mrs. Stone lived in the top floors of the hospital. My parents had rented a house from Dr. Stone and when he sold the house he let my parents live in the hospital until they could get a house in Oak Ridge. (My father was working in Oak Ridge during the war.) Once when I was about four or five years old my parents took me to visit Dr. Stone. He took us out on an upstairs porch to show me a bird nest and told me that was where the stork lived.
Thank you for this video! My husband is from Oliver Springs, TN and we both enjoyed it very much! He said his granny told him stories about the hospital "haints" when he was a kid.
What a beautiful little town! This is one area of which I didn't know about in Tennessee! I never realized that Tennessee was a source of coal. WOW! Such great historic buildings! Imagine that! The little town was used as a backdrop for a movie. Thank you so much for this great video Shane and Melody. Stay safe on the roads. Happy Memorial Day!!
Another interesting & informative video. I’ve enjoyed your work for two years (adding Melody as a documentary partner was a great move!) Your reports on the abandoned coal towns of West Virginia inspired a road trip with my son last summer. (Michigan to Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia). We visited several towns highlighted in your videos, including Coalwood. Great to experience the beauty, history and culture of W VA. I’ll return.
thank you so much, Tony, I remember when you were planning that trip last year. Really glad you had a good trip and appreciate your kind words and loyalty to the channel.
Country Fresh Food/ Pamela Anne's here. We actually are still manufacturing. However, we did unfortunately have to close our retail store early on due to Covid. Looks like you caught us on a day off. Liked the video!
Great news that you’re still manufacturing, we are very glad to hear it because it is such a nice looking place. Thanks for setting us straight and for watching the video, we appreciate it
What beautiful architecture! It’s so sad to see these beautiful town centers fall into disuse and disrepair. I’m sure the highway we see in the background didn’t help. I’m marvelling about Dr. Stone delivering 5000 babies! What a beautiful legacy! Many Blessings!
Hi Guys, Another great video, very educational and interesting. I met an awesome lady about three years ago. She was from VA her name was Olga. She was 98 years young. She had moved to Illinois with her husband when she was young. She was in the hospital with my wife here in MD. She was visiting her nieces here when she fell & hurt her back. She could not wait to get back to Illinois so she could be burred by her husband when she passed away. It's truly a sad love story. She went home we stayed in touch with her for a couple of years. I truly hope she is still living. Awesome great video thanks for sharing it. Stay well & safe out there. Thumbs up.
I am not 100% but i do believe back in the day, they never counted the bottom floor. It would essentially be what we call the 2nd floor as the first same as it is today in most of Europe. Thanks for sharing hope the rest of the Holiday is good for you two and family. Cheers
Very good video! I lived in a Oliver Springs back in the 60’s. Every store was occupied and owned then. Busy little town. However Today it looks like a ghost town sadly! Wish someone would restore those nice buildings and take pride in their little town. It could be so cute!
There is a podcast about October Sky that goes by the movie minute by minute. One of the people on it was from the historical society of the town and he told the history of the town and area. Just look up October Sky Minute. It will go on for 104 minutes for each episode.
I spent a couple of years working in an abandoned hospital in Clarksburg, WV. Myself and about 5 other guys were commissioned to look after the boilers, do security and walk throughs, move equipment to the loading docks, while trying to keep things from falling apart as the building awaited renovations from a medical hospital to a mental hospital. What was supposed to be a 6 to 8 month long job, turned into several years as there were lawsuits holding up the project. I have ghost stories that still chill me to the bone when I think of those years. Even a short video of activity from the "Lunch Lady" in the kitchen. She never stopped working even after her death while at work a few months prior. Eventually as money got tight, they turned off all non essential lighting and I had the swing shift. I dreaded nightfall. It was a 5 story, multi-winged building. It got to the point as the activity increased, that I simply refused to go into some of those wings at night. ICU, ER, Oncology were the worst. But they were everywhere. All of us guys on that job had crazy experiences. I'm sure that hospital you guys are showing us is just the same. I wouldn't want to walk through it at night that much is sure.
@@realappalachia There were nights when my shift ended at 11PM that I couldn't run out of there fast enough. Good times though. I did a little ghost hunting on my braver nights from time to time and they didn't like that and told me as much. Got in touch with a paranormal outfit up there that did whatever they do. The morgue is the place that they all got freaked out. Creepy but a great job none the less. The real nightmare was the backed up sewer lines, the bursting water pipes and frozen air handlers. 🙂
I grew up in Oliver Springs. If you want to know more about all those buildings, Contact Mr Luke Hall. He now owns a lot of those old buildings. My Wife's cousin owns Ruby's Diner. He is thinking of buying the old bank building. The restaurant is named after his mother. Ms. Ruby is a sweet lady. When I was around 4 years old, Dr. Stone treated me for Double Pneumonia then sent me to Oak Ridge Methodist because he didn't have what was needed to keep me alive. The single story section of the Dr Stone building just behind the Post Office used to be a Barber Shop. I got my hair cut there until I was 16 years old when I started letting it grow longer.
Enjoyed this! Beautiful area.....i believe the house with all the rooms Melody was talking about is the Winchester house in California....Sarah Winchester kept building onto it , with dead end hallways, and rooms.....she was widow of the Winchester firearms magnate....it is a historic place, has tours and is supposedly haunted ....thanks guys .....God bless y'all...🙏❤
It sure is a shame to see a nice little town look abandoned. Would be nice to see it restored, and bring back people that used to live there. Also bring in some money on the historical side. To many good towns are dying. Thanks for all that you do!
The Winchester House had lots of crazy rooms and staircases and such. There was movie about that one too, I think based on a true story about the wife of the man who invented the Winchester rifle, and the guilt she felt about all the people who were killed by it drove her crazy.
I work at the country fresh food confections as a cook, we make fudge and are currently still in business lol you were just probably there on the weekend when it's closed 🤣
My brother lives in TN now. Will tell him about this. My son has a coffee table book on steam engines & there is a photo of the one used in October Sky. The engineer in the movie is the real owner. Not sure what town was used for the photo.
Hey guys y’all are Awsome great story the next town is the hidden city they developed in WW 2. Love the area anytime I’m in TN it’sa good day!!!!! Keep up the good work!!!!!!
I love this little town we have explored it before and stopped in the historical society asking questions. But I'm trying to find the exact location of the old mineral springs hotel. Do you know where it was in town?
Great video! I grew up in Coalwood and remember Homer's rockets well. My Dad worked in the Machine Shop there. Coalwood presented several problems for filming the movie. There were very few hotels for Production Staff. Also Coalwood lies in several very narrow hollers. This presented lighting problems in daylight scenes and limited hours of filming. Oliver Springs was perfect because it was much more open to light. It was also a coal mining area and it's close proximity to Oak Ridge and Knoxville provided staff and hotel accommodations. Many thanks for the video. I appreciate you all!👍
makes perfect sense after you explain it that way, it was a great choice because it still has a bit of a coal town vibe
Thank you for that. 😊
Great video
hi, greeting from hamburg, good old germany ! 🙂
hello, Kasimir, thanks for watching. Hope you're well in Germany
I lived in Oliver Springs Tn, 1980 's
never knew much about it's history
except for the famous mineral springs.
Never knew about the hospital,The
corner drug store was still being used.
I lived at 210 Ann St and the Veaches
were my wonderful neighbors. I loved
that little town , At the time I worked in
Oak Ridge,Tn,thanks for the memories,
so glad you enjoyed it, thanks for watching
Thanks🥰
You’re welcome 😊
My dad and my step-mom use to have U-Save Auto Repair. He and I were talking about October Sky. He told me when they filmed it there it was a sight to behold. He was very proud of it.
That’s awesome, I bet it was an exciting time to be there
Love it hearing the chimney sweeps flying all around great..👍👍👍🐦🐦🐦
My Dad was born there at Dr. Fred Stone's hospital in 1955 and I believe my uncle (his younger brother) was as well. Love the history on our small town!
That’s great, thank you watching and adding your experiences
Thanks Melody and Shane!I grew up in Donaldson,Tennessee, on the Stone river right where it emptied into the Cumberland river.A farmer owned all the land up in that corner, and only had to build two lines of fence for his animals, because the rivers served as fence on two sides.That was my stomping grounds!
sounds like that farmer got to save a bit of money on the fencing lol
I was born in this hospital in 1945. Dr. and Mrs. Stone lived in the top floors of the hospital. My parents had rented a house from Dr. Stone and when he sold the house he let my parents live in the hospital until they could get a house in Oak Ridge. (My father was working in Oak Ridge during the war.) Once when I was about four or five years old my parents took me to visit Dr. Stone. He took us out on an upstairs porch to show me a bird nest and told me that was where the stork lived.
I read the Rocket Boys and saw the movie. Recommend both.
I love Homer Hickam
My neck of the woods! I hope you enjoyed your visit!
we loved it!
As always really love the ride..🚗
Glad you enjoy it!
Great video Thank you
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you Melody and Shane. What a cool town and that hospital building is very interesting and beautiful.
yes, that hospital was a great thing to see
Thank you for this video! My husband is from Oliver Springs, TN and we both enjoyed it very much! He said his granny told him stories about the hospital "haints" when he was a kid.
Oh I would love to hear those stories! It’s such an interesting place! - Melody
What a beautiful little town! This is one area of which I didn't know about in Tennessee! I never realized that Tennessee was a source of coal. WOW! Such great historic buildings! Imagine that! The little town was used as a backdrop for a movie. Thank you so much for this great video Shane and Melody. Stay safe on the roads. Happy Memorial Day!!
That area is a source of Coal and Oil...
happy memorial day to you too, Judy! Thanks for watching.
The town of Coalfield is a few miles up the highway before you get to Wartburg (German name)
Another interesting & informative video. I’ve enjoyed your work for two years (adding Melody as a documentary partner was a great move!)
Your reports on the abandoned coal towns of West Virginia inspired a road trip with my son last summer. (Michigan to Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia). We visited several towns highlighted in your videos, including Coalwood.
Great to experience the beauty, history and culture of W VA. I’ll return.
thank you so much, Tony, I remember when you were planning that trip last year. Really glad you had a good trip and appreciate your kind words and loyalty to the channel.
Great job, thanks
Thanks for watching!
I remember going to Oliver Springs after filming finished. The props were amazing.
I’d have loved to have seen that
What an interesting building. I hope one day you could get inside 🤩
Maybe one day!
Country Fresh Food/ Pamela Anne's here. We actually are still manufacturing. However, we did unfortunately have to close our retail store early on due to Covid. Looks like you caught us on a day off. Liked the video!
Great news that you’re still manufacturing, we are very glad to hear it because it is such a nice looking place. Thanks for setting us straight and for watching the video, we appreciate it
What beautiful architecture! It’s so sad to see these beautiful town centers fall into disuse and disrepair. I’m sure the highway we see in the background didn’t help.
I’m marvelling about Dr. Stone delivering 5000 babies! What a beautiful legacy! Many Blessings!
Yes! The 5000 babies part was most impressive - that would make for a pretty decent sized town around here. I hope they find a way to fix it back up
U two are in sync as usual. Cool
thanks so much, Tom
Hi Guys, Another great video, very educational and interesting. I met an awesome lady about three years ago. She was from VA her name was Olga. She was 98 years young. She had moved to Illinois with her husband when she was young. She was in the hospital with my wife here in MD. She was visiting her nieces here when she fell & hurt her back. She could not wait to get back to Illinois so she could be burred by her husband when she passed away. It's truly a sad love story. She went home we stayed in touch with her for a couple of years. I truly hope she is still living. Awesome great video thanks for sharing it. Stay well & safe out there. Thumbs up.
Thank you so much, Thomas. That sounded like true love, the kind you don’t hear much about these days, we appreciate you sharing it here
I am not 100% but i do believe back in the day, they never counted the bottom floor. It would essentially be what we call the 2nd floor as the first same as it is today in most of Europe.
Thanks for sharing hope the rest of the Holiday is good for you two and family. Cheers
Thanks for the info, hope you have a great rest of Memorial Day weekend too
Very good video! I lived in a Oliver Springs back in the 60’s. Every store was occupied and owned then. Busy little town. However Today it looks like a ghost town sadly! Wish someone would restore those nice buildings and take pride in their little town. It could be so cute!
I live in roane county I never thought y’all would make a video this close to where I live
we hope to get that way more often in the future, a lot of places we are hoping to check out in the area
There is a podcast about October Sky that goes by the movie minute by minute. One of the people on it was from the historical society of the town and he told the history of the town and area. Just look up October Sky Minute. It will go on for 104 minutes for each episode.
My father in law was born in that hospital in 1957. Dr Stone told his mom " you have a turkey hunter". He said i have never shot a turkey. Lol
Thanks!
I spent a couple of years working in an abandoned hospital in Clarksburg, WV. Myself and about 5 other guys were commissioned to look after the boilers, do security and walk throughs, move equipment to the loading docks, while trying to keep things from falling apart as the building awaited renovations from a medical hospital to a mental hospital. What was supposed to be a 6 to 8 month long job, turned into several years as there were lawsuits holding up the project. I have ghost stories that still chill me to the bone when I think of those years. Even a short video of activity from the "Lunch Lady" in the kitchen. She never stopped working even after her death while at work a few months prior. Eventually as money got tight, they turned off all non essential lighting and I had the swing shift. I dreaded nightfall. It was a 5 story, multi-winged building. It got to the point as the activity increased, that I simply refused to go into some of those wings at night. ICU, ER, Oncology were the worst. But they were everywhere. All of us guys on that job had crazy experiences. I'm sure that hospital you guys are showing us is just the same. I wouldn't want to walk through it at night that much is sure.
shew, that comment gave me the creeps, I bet that was a nightmare to work
@@realappalachia There were nights when my shift ended at 11PM that I couldn't run out of there fast enough. Good times though. I did a little ghost hunting on my braver nights from time to time and they didn't like that and told me as much. Got in touch with a paranormal outfit up there that did whatever they do. The morgue is the place that they all got freaked out. Creepy but a great job none the less. The real nightmare was the backed up sewer lines, the bursting water pipes and frozen air handlers. 🙂
As you were starting your story, I though ghosts 👻 too scary for me by the sounds of it. Love to hear the tales though. 👋
Great one Guys keep safe.
McDowell County,Coalwood in particular in West Virginia just didn't have the infrastructure and a skilled labor force for the filming of October Sky.
that makes sense
I was born in that hospital and my grandparents and a lot of my relatives lived in Oliver Springs.
How cool is that
I use to live in oliver springs
Dr stone delivered my husband in that bldg
Oh that’s awesome!! I was hoping we’d get some comments from people born there. - Melody
I grew up in Oliver Springs. If you want to know more about all those buildings, Contact Mr Luke Hall. He now owns a lot of those old buildings. My Wife's cousin owns Ruby's Diner. He is thinking of buying the old bank building. The restaurant is named after his mother. Ms. Ruby is a sweet lady. When I was around 4 years old, Dr. Stone treated me for Double Pneumonia then sent me to Oak Ridge Methodist because he didn't have what was needed to keep me alive. The single story section of the Dr Stone building just behind the Post Office used to be a Barber Shop. I got my hair cut there until I was 16 years old when I started letting it grow longer.
Very cool! Thank you for the information!
There are some hallmark movies being filmed in downtown clinton now, one was a halloween movie
Oh very cool! We had no idea.
Enjoyed this! Beautiful area.....i believe the house with all the rooms Melody was talking about is the Winchester house in California....Sarah Winchester kept building onto it , with dead end hallways, and rooms.....she was widow of the Winchester firearms magnate....it is a historic place, has tours and is supposedly haunted ....thanks guys .....God bless y'all...🙏❤
Thanks for that info, Ben, God bless you too sir
It sure is a shame to see a nice little town look abandoned. Would be nice to see it restored, and bring back people that used to live there. Also bring in some money on the historical side. To many good towns are dying. Thanks for all that you do!
The Winchester House had lots of crazy rooms and staircases and such. There was movie about that one too, I think based on a true story about the wife of the man who invented the Winchester rifle, and the guilt she felt about all the people who were killed by it drove her crazy.
Excellent ☮️
Thanks, Dennis! - Melody
Great movie
I work at the country fresh food confections as a cook, we make fudge and are currently still in business lol you were just probably there on the weekend when it's closed 🤣
Oh awesome!! We hate we missed you!!
The birds in Oliver Springs were real noisy is that usual ?
Another interesting trek around real Appalachia. Thank you for taking me along .
thanks for riding along, the birds did seem a little more chirpy than usual
My brother lives in TN now. Will tell him about this. My son has a coffee table book on steam engines & there is a photo of the one used in October Sky. The engineer in the movie is the real owner. Not sure what town was used for the photo.
That’s really cool, I loved that movie and glad to know they used so many local things to complete it
Hey guys y’all are Awsome great story the next town is the hidden city they developed in WW 2. Love the area anytime I’m in TN it’sa good day!!!!! Keep up the good work!!!!!!
Thanks so much!!
The first vowel in a German surname is always silent. Seneckt, l'm guessing is most likely the proper pronunciation, the k also being silent.
thanks for that info, that one was tricky
I love this little town we have explored it before and stopped in the historical society asking questions. But I'm trying to find the exact location of the old mineral springs hotel. Do you know where it was in town?
It really looks like the place is haunted...
it had a vibe about it for sure
My grandfather was J T Sienknecht….he and his brother owned the Sienknecht Brothers store. Their name is pronounced SINK NECKT. Definitely German!
Thanks so much for clearing that up, wish we could always pronounce names correctly
You were not far from where I'm at and Petros was also used in tht movie
That’s right! We went through Petros too for Brushy Mountain! Very cool places to see! - Melody
@@realappalachiathts cool
Maybe they could renovate the hospital into affordable senior housing used both state and federal historic tax credits.
I’ve seen that work for a few other old historic buildings and is a great use
Such a shame whats been done to the coal company's.
the fudge makers are not out of business. No Offense , why would you come to Oliver Springs,TN?