Celebrating decades of memories was the theme of the yearly friends of the East Broadtop Fall Reunion this Weekend.
Our Zach Kaye talked with organizers about its importance to members.
The weekend long Friends of the East Broadtop Fall Reunion featured walking and rail bike tours of the Robertsdale mine area. Different panels and presentations, and the chance to catch up with old friends at the East Broadtop Railroad.
“And we get to see people that haven’t been around for at least a year. Some of them have been away for a lot longer than that”
Jackson says that more than 200 of their members came for the reunion, along with their museum in Robertsdale being open.
The Broadtop Area Coal Miners Museum also had extended hours for this weekend.
Workers here said that they were busy Saturday.
“I think they were busy into 6:30, which is unusual. One of our biggest goals here is to work with the East Broadtop Railroad and the friends to hopefully someday see the return of to Broad Top to the what was once a
prosperous coal mining region.”
Morgan says this is one of their busiest weekends of the year, and Jackson says one thing they are trying to focus on is getting the younger generations more interested in the history of the area.
“One of the things that we are getting doing right now to promote interest in the railroad is a group called the Young Easties, and the Young Easties is a group of high school age students, and they
come to the railroad and help with the projects.”
