From coal mine to tourist gold
ROY FURCHGOTT By 1999, when Larry Davidson ended his 27-year military career and moved back to the Virginia mining town where his parents lived, the coal industry was dying, and the town of Tazewell with it. The businesses that thrived on coal — belt manufacturers, lathing companies, welding companies — had gradually disappeared. The once-affluent Main Street was blighted with empty storefronts. “You could not even buy a soft drink on Main Street, and that is a fact,” said Todd Day, Tazewell’s city manager.
Davidson thought about the problem, sometimes when riding his Aprilia Tuono motorcycle along Virginia’s scenic Route 16, which twists 50 kilometres between Tazewell and Marion. On one ride in 2010, he said, he had an epiphany. While Tazewell was losing one natural resource — coal — there was another to replace it: the serpentine roads around him. He remembers thinking, “This road is a hidden natural resource for tourism and development.”
Asimilar strategy had worked for Deal’s Gap, an area on the border between Tennessee and North Carolina. In the 1990s, local entrepreneurs branded a curvy stretch of road “Tail of the Dragon,” boasting “318 turns in11miles.” It became an internationally known motorcycle and sports car tourist attraction.
Davidson, now 70, noted that Route 16 rolled over three mountains and decided that “Back of the Dragon” made a pretty good name. He tested its marketing potential by printing a dozen dragon-logo T-shirts, putting them in a backpack, and then riding in search of motorcyclists who had stopped to admire the mountain vistas. He sold the entire lot of T-shirts in about a day, he said.
Since then, Davidson has worked with tourism groups and elected officials to promote the drive. It appears to be working: Last year 60,000 motorcycle and sports car enthusiasts came through town, up from 16,000 in 2013, said David Woodard, the director of community development. Four restaurants have opened on Tazewell’s Main Street since 2017.
Tazewell, population 4,240, is a prime example of a southwest Virginia coalfield town converting to what Chris Cannon, executive director of the economic development group Friends of Southwest Virginia, calls the creative economy. “We focus on natural and cultural assets,” rather than coal, tobacco and lumber, he said. The area has a bluegrass music heritage trail, a crafts collective and outdoor activities like ATV riding, hiking, mountain biking and river running. “We as a region are trying to diversify,” said Cannon. “Everyone is trying to find their niche.”
The new establishments on Main Street include a microbrewery. The town’s only accommodation now is the former jail, built in 1832, which has been converted to a two-room inn, but another hotel is in the works. The next scheduled construction on Main is Davidson’s Back of the Dragon Welcome Center. Davidson and investors have ordered a 5,000-squarefoot building. He hopes to offer food services and — of course — dragon souvenirs.