Pocahontas
Historical highway marker XP-4 · Tazewell County
This region was visited by the explorer, Dr. Thomas Walker, in 1750. Following a report by Captain I. A. Welch in 1873, the first coal mine was opened here in 1882. Shipment of coal followed in 1883, when the Norfolk and Western Railroad reached this point from Radford. First known as "Powell's Bottom", the town was incorporated in 1884 and named for the Indian princess Pocahontas.
Virginia Conservation Commission, 1947