Caretta is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

located in McDowell County,

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

, United States. Caretta was named for the transposed syllables in the name of Mrs. Etta Carter, the wife of George Lafayette Carter.Homer Hickam, ''We Are Not Afraid: Strength and Courage for Our Nation from the Town of "October Sky"'', HCI, 2002, p. 15 It is the only place in the United States with this name. This

coal town A coal town, also known as a coal camp or patch, is a type of company town or mining community established by the employer, a mining company, which imports workers to the site to work the mineral find. The company develops it and provides reside ...

was originally owned first by The Virginia Pocahontas Coal Company, then by the

Carter Coal Company ''Carter v. Carter Coal Company'', 298 U.S. 238 (1936), is a United States Supreme Court decision interpreting the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution, which permits the United States Congress to "regulate Commerce... among the seve ...

, and the final operators in Caretta were the Consolidation Coal Company. Caretta is home to the Big Creek People in Action, an organization founded in 1990 by citizens of McDowell County in order to improve the local quality of life. The organization also boasts partnerships with numerous colleges, churches, and other groups who volunteer in the area. Caretta's

coal mine Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

was connected to the mine in nearby Coalwood, made famous in the book '' Rocket Boys''. The Carter Coal Company Store was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1992.

References

External links

Coalfields of the Appalachian Mountains – Caretta, WVBig Creek People in Action
Unincorporated communities in McDowell County, West Virginia Company towns in West Virginia Coal towns in West Virginia Unincorporated communities in West Virginia {{McDowellCountyWV-geo-stub