United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) local, housed in former church, in foreground. Note mine entrance with guard house and tipple in the distance.

When Marfork Coal company, a subsidiary of Massey Coal Services, opened a non-union mine at Marfork, just above Packsville, the local union opened an outpost at the church. The signs on the church register the church's support for the UMWA and the UMWA's support for Charlotte Pritt, the Democratic candidate for governor in 1996, who lost to Governor Underwood, the Coal industry's candidate.