Lonaconing 'retired mule' mural pays tribute to coal miners

Oct. 31—LONACONING — A tribute to coal mining families is the latest artwork created by Elijah Thane and his wife Marlee Opel.

The couple, Lonaconing residents, have been professionally painting murals since 2021 in states including Texas and Florida.

Their work is featured on Elijahthane.com, and they document their projects via YouTube videos.

Locally, their work includes landscape murals at Fatboy's Pizza Shack in Frostburg and the corner of Centre and Baltimore streets in Cumberland.

The couple donated their time to create the latest local mural, which honors the area's coal mining legacy, highlights the work mules performed in the industry, and offers observers a "sense of place" and "somewhere you feel like you could walk into," Thane said.

He based the mural, which covers roughly 400 square feet and is located along Main Street, on a photo the couple took of a local mule at sunset.

The mural took roughly six months to plan and 10 gallons of paint to complete, Thane said.

According to the Mining History Association's website, although many mules died in coal mines, others retired after years of labor.

"Mules could leave behind the darkness they had known most of their lives," the organization's newsletter states. "Sunshine and fresh air replaced the damp, dark workings."

Good Will Fire Company No.1 of Lonaconing donated a lift to help the couple paint the mural, Opel said.

In May, she and Thane painted a mural on the wall of Good Will's station that faces Main Street in the town.

"We're always scouting out new locations," she said.

Many Lonaconing residents are related to someone who worked in the coal mining industry, said Opel, a native of the town.

"I think it's really, really beautiful," she said of the finished "retired mule" mural. "It has a lot of different elements in it."

Billy Powell owns the building, a former car wash he now uses for storage, on which Thane and Opel painted the mule mural.

The artwork was sponsored by Powells Auto Parts.

Powell and Thane came up with the idea for the mural, which was inspired by Lonaconing's coal mining history.

"I love it," Powell said of the finished mural. "What a great artwork."

Coal mining is "what built this town," he said.

Lonaconing Mayor Jack Coburn said the artwork is "an asset to the community."

He owns George's Creek Florist & Gift Shoppe where Thane and Opel painted flowers including the black-eyed Susan — official Maryland flower since 1918 — on the side of the building earlier this year.

The project was in partnership with the Allegany Arts Council.

"They did an amazing job," Coburn said and added the murals "are inviting."

Teresa McMinn is a reporter for the Cumberland Times-News. She can be reached at 304-639-2371 or tmcminn@times-news.com.