The Lackawanna County Coal Mine in Scranton, Pennsylvania, is a retired coal mine that offers guided tours of the mine and a glimpse into what mine conditions used to be like. In a mine car, visitors descend into the Clark coal vein on an hour-long tour and can view mine tunnels and learn about anthracite mining.

Mine conditions were terrible, with workers exposed to cold, crowded, deep, damp, dust-filled passageways on a daily basis, and with children as young as eight years old working alongside adults. Up on the surface, a small museum relates the history of the Knox Mine Disaster, which singlehandedly killed off anthracite mining in northern Pennsylvania, when the Susquehanna River flooded and broke through mine galleries, trapping 66 miners underground. Not a tour for claustrophobics, but fascinating and educational for others.

Address: Lackawanna County Coal Mine, McDade Park, Scranton, PA 18503, Phone: 800-238-7245

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