Moonville - The History:

Moonville Tunnel came into  existence with the Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad whose tracks crossed Vinton County right around 1856. Later, in 1883, the railway would change ownership to the Baltimore and Ohio.

The name is most likely from an early storeowner in the region by the name of Moon. And if ever a place had reason to be haunted, it would be this tiny town of Moonville just outside Zaleski,  Ohio.  Hikers walking the rugged dirt trail these days seldom notice the few remnants of the town once thriving in this sleepy hollow – a mound of foundation stones, an old brick-lined well hidden beneath undergrowth and side roads grown over with poison ivy and thick brush. 

But Moonville was not always hidden in the thick arms of an overgrown forest. Coal and clay abundant in the hilly terrain of southeastern Ohio were a means of income for those lucky enough to find rich pockets located on their property.  In the mid 1800’s Samuel Coe, knowing that his property was rich in these natural resources, granted permission for the Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad to develop a railroad for free through his isolated land.  In return, he had an economical means to ship his coal to buyers. Earlier plans had the Cincinnati Marietta Railroad mapped around Hope Hollow. But financially strapped, the railway rerouted into Coe's property.

And so around 1856, the sleepy town of Moonville began its existence as a simple railroad and coal and clay mining town. At its peak, the largest number of residents recorded living in the area was about one hundred mining employees and families during the mid to late 1800’s.

Many of these residents were scattered about a couple mile area, their homes tucked into hollows and hills wherever land would allow them to build a home. There were folks like the Shirkeys, the Kennards and the Fergusons. Most of them worked in the Coe’s mines or in the small towns surrounding them. 

The town itself had a saloon, depot, schoolhouse, strip of homes, and a cemetery.  It remained a little less than a hundred years until the last family left, leaving it nothing more than a ghost town among many in the declining economy of the 1940’s.

The town and surrounding area may not have ever been large, but it always seemed to have more than its share of tragic deaths.  The small, rundown cemetery just up the road is bursting with graves from both young and old. If lung fever or cholera didn’t get them, the railroad running through town took its share of folks.

Now the immediate property of the tunnel, the tracks and within 10 - 20 feet of the tracks is owned by Vinton County. The Ohio Division of Forestry owns the area where the town of Moonville once stood and the area immediately outside the tracks and tunnel.

Sources: 1875 Map of Vinton County

The Moonville Area and Early History, Rich Daun

Biggs, Louise, A Brief History of Vinton County 1950.