Austinville, Wythe County: Chiswell’s Lead Mines, the American Revolution, and the Civil War
Appalachian Community Histories – Austinville, Wythe County: Chiswell’s Lead Mines, the American Revolution, and the Civil War. Along the New River in southwestern Virginia, the small community of Austinville occupies a place in American history far greater than its size might suggest. Long before the community acquired its present name, the surrounding hills contained one of the most important lead deposits in colonial America, providing a mineral that would become essential to frontier settlement, the American Revolution, and the Civil War. The mines helped sustain armies, attracted entrepreneurs and skilled laborers, and established an industrial settlement whose influence extended well beyond the mountains of Virginia.
