Those letters from objectors reveal a coordinated campaign by landowning and coal companies to gather signatures of property holders to oppose the nomination.
Most are filled out as a form letter, simply stating that they are landowners and they object to the listing, and nothing else.
Many are signed on the same date, and many have the same witness or notary public co-signing the document.
The Division of Culture and History counted 22 objections last month, out of 57 total landowners. But it turns out there were 30 objections, according to agency officials.
That’s important, because if a majority of landowners object, it can prevent the property from being listed.
One objector’s letter does not match the exact name on the deed. The deed reads “Dessie Jeffrey” – but the letter is signed Dollie Jeffrey.
Attached to that form letter is a little memo that says “Honey Do” on it and features a man juggling several slices of melon.
It says, “We do not want someone else telling us what to do with our property. Are you going to pay the taxes and upkeep if you take over?”
In this process, only people with a fee simple title are allowed to object. That means your name has to be on the deed – and large landholding companies only get one vote.
Some of the objections went straight to the state Division of Culture and History. Others went to the National Parks Service.
Several are date-stamped by the National Parks Service in the days before the end-of-March deadline.
Proctor says the National Parks faxed those objections to the Division of Culture in history in time to make the deadline, but some were missed their initial count of objectors.
Harvard Ayers, a professor at Appalachian State and one of the people who has worked on the nomination, says he questions whether objections sent to the National Parks Service should count, since the federal code says they should be submitted to the state Historic Preservation Officer.
Ayers also said the “Honey Do” memo shows that coal companies were mounting a misinformation campaign about the listing. He says it would not interfere with most property uses – except mountaintop removal mining.
There are other letters from objectors – but those were not counted, because the person was not the type of landowner who gets to vote, or did not own property in the proposed historical district.
Some writing letters objecting are well-known names, including former state Senator and gubernatorial candidate Lloyd Jackson, and members of the Payne family.
Earlier this month, the site of the 1921 union/coal company battle was named to the National Register of Historic Places after a years-long fight.
The ridge is surrounded by mountaintop removal operations, and several landowners and coal companies want to mine Blair Mountain, also.
Earlier this week, the Manchin Administration asked for Blair Mountain to be taken off the list.
Gov. Joe Manchin says he and his office were not involved in the decision.
There is a procedure laid out in federal code to take a property off a list if an error is made.
The property would then be categorized as “eligible” for National Historic status, and kicks off another process for determining whether to list the property again.
During that time period, Proctor says many of the same restrictions apply as they do to listed properties.
Note: the attached letters are not all the letters received. The ones which did not count have not been included. Also, we did not receive two objectors' letters because our FOIA request was tailored too narrowly. The Division of Culture and History says they will provide those to us shortly.