barthell coal camp private tours

We took a tour on 10/8/2014, it was excellent, the staff was friendly and knowledgeable. The tour was very interesting and educational. It was well worth the price of the tour and the drive. We plan to go back in the future, it is a not to be missed if you are in Stearns, KY.

Our group of 20 arrived at the camp at 4:30p and the camp stays open til 5pm. The woman shouted to us to ask if she could help us, but the tone she used was in such a manner that we thought that we were in the wrong place and maybe that we were trespassing on private property. She told us that they were closed. Another man came up and told us that he could arrange a private tour for $15 per person. Unfortunately, several in group were so offended at her manner that we kindly refused his offer and left promptly. This is not the kind of impression that they was to make on tourists.

My daughter and I had a couple hours to spare so we went on an adventure to find this place and see what it had to offer. This attraction is way out in the middle of no where and is hard to find. I typically don't mind that so much but when we got there we were quite surprised at the attitude we encountered. The staff was quite rude and said that they only did the tours every 2 hours. There is nothing to see outside of their guided tours. Given that we were there 30 minutes after a tour was scheduled and there were NO cars in the parking lot I was shocked that they wanted us to wait 90 minutes doing nothing before the tour. Their pricing is $15/person for their museum and $15/person for their mine tour. Since we obviously didn't wait the 90 minutes I can't say if it would have been worth $30/person but from what I experienced in the greeting area and saw from outside I would say probably not. I would recommend against visiting this place.