Please note the topmost placard on the signpost: Mine Fire. If you follow that arrow you’ll eventually reach New Straitsville, Ohio, where in 1884 a large coal mine caught fire, perhaps by accident.

NEW STRAITSVILLE – Driving ... a bleak reminder of a bygone era when New Straitsville was a thriving 19th century coal mining community. The mine fire of 1884 — still burning today — may ...