Named for Daniel Nelson, who arrived with his family in 1814, Nelsonville grew to become a boomtown by the mid-1800s. Coal mines and brick factories were its major employers, and the town attracted emigrant workers from England. Two major routes, the Hocking Canal and Hocking Valley Railroad, not only provided transportation for the area but also a means to export coal. The canal suffered attacks by Gen. John Hunt Morgan and his Confederate cavalry during the Civil War and was ultimately destroyed by spring flooding, but the railroad has remained a premiere tourist attraction. The Public...