The
Eastern Kentucky Coalfield is part of the Central Appalachian bituminous coalfield, including all or parts of 30
Kentucky counties and adjoining areas in Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee. It covers an area from the
Allegheny Mountains in the east across the
Cumberland Plateau to the
Pottsville Escarpment in the west. The region is known for its
coal mining; most family farms in the region have disappeared since the introduction of
surface mining in the 1940s and 1950s.