A Common Field

Mining reshaped the landscape.

NPS Collection

Quick Facts

Location:

Flight 93 National Memorial

Significance:

Stop 1 of Story Tour

Welcome to Flight 93 National Memorial. This land you will travel through has been transformed several times. This area was first settled in the late 1700s. For a century and a half, much of the area was wooded, with cultivated fields and pastures surrounding a few scattered farmhouses and barns. Beginning in the 1950s, mining reshaped the landscape. Huge machines scraped away layers of soil and rock to reveal long, black seams of coal. A deep mine was bored under what is now the northern portion of the memorial. Enormous trucks traveled this road, hauling away coal to steel mills and power plants. By the mid-1990s, the surface mining was finished, though deep mining continued until 2002. . There are signs of restoration all around this landscape. As you travel through the memorial, remnants of the mining process are still visible in the form of treatment ponds, trace roads, and altered land contours. A long-term reforestation effort is also currently underway. Wildlife such as hawk, turkey, deer, bear, pheasant, groundhog, snake, and many other species abound in the lands of the memorial. Please be aware of wildlife as you travel along the park roads. 

• A Common Field

  
  

  A common Field. Welcome to Flight 93 National Memorial. This land you will travel through has been transformed several times.

  Date created:

  08/31/2024

  Audio Transcript

  A common Field. Welcome to Flight 93 National Memorial. This land you will travel through has been transformed several times. This area was first settled in the late 1700s. For a century and a half, much of the area was wooded, with cultivated fields and pastures surrounding a few scattered farmhouses and barns. Beginning in the 1950s, mining reshaped the landscape. Hugh machines scraped away layers of soil and rock to reveal long, black seams of coal. A deep mine was bored under what is now the northern portion of the memorial. Enormous trucks traveled this road, hauling away coal to steel mills and power plants. By the mid-1990s, the surface mining was finished, though deep mining continued until 2002. Now this land is undergoing restoration. As you travel through the memorial, remnants of the mining process are still visible in the form of treatment ponds, trace roads, and altered land contours. Wildlife such as hawk, turkey, deer, bear, pheasant, groundhog, snake, and many other species abound in the lands of the memorial. Please be aware of wildlife as you travel along the park roads.