A recent weekend took me to a roadside attraction in Morgan County – the remnants of the Big Muskie.

The Big Muskie was an enormous piece of machinery used in coal mining. As big as a sky rise, this was the largest dragline ever built.

Dedicated in 1969, this machine could move millions of pounds of earth and rock every hour. It operated until 1991 and sat quiet as a tourist attraction for several years. In the late nineties, the Surface Mining Reclamation Act required its removal. However, one piece remains – the bucket which landowner American Electric Power turned into the centerpiece of a park with interpretive signage, picnic tables and restrooms.

The bucket is enormous and the chains attached to the bucket are unimaginably large.

Have you ever seen a chain so large? Can you imagine the piece of equipment necessary to lift all this? You don’t have to. Here’s an image courtesy of The Herald Star. Look how small the bucket is compared to the machine. Now scroll back up and look at how small the people are compared to the bucket.

This is one of those roadside attractions that’s worth a stop if you’re in the area. I wouldn’t build a road trip around it but there are other things to see and do in the area. The Morgan County Bicentennial Barn is just down the road, there are covered bridges in the area, and The Wilds is about twenty minutes north. Downtown McConnelsville has small town charm complete with some cute small businesses, the Ohio Valley Opry and a fantastic square with a statue and county courthouse.