[7] The Christ Episcopal Church, John Fox, Jr. House, Southwest Virginia Museum Historical State Park, Terrace Park Girl Scout Cabin, June Tolliver House, and C. Bascom Slemp Federal Building are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

[8] In October 1978, John W. Warner, then the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate from Virginia, and his wife, British-American actress Elizabeth Taylor, stopped in Big Stone Gap to campaign for his upcoming election.

At Fraley's Coach House, a local diner where they were each meeting with voters, Taylor choked on a chicken bone in her esophagus and was transported to the nearby Lonesome Pine Regional Hospital.

The film starred Ashley Judd, Patrick Wilson, Whoopi Goldberg, and others, including local talent for many of the background extras in larger scenes.

[12] Big Stone Gap became the first locality in the nation to pass a resolution in support of the federal Black Lung Disability Trust Fund on August 16, 2018.

The measure passed unanimously and urged Congress to support the existing tax rate at the time.

[14] According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 4.9 square miles (12.6 km2), all of which is land.

Due to mounting financial burdens caused by a shrinking population and underfunding from the state government, local elected officials voted to consolidate several of the county's schools in 2012, including those in Big Stone Gap.

The June Tolliver House, located on Jerome Street, is home to the Trail of the Lonesome Pine, the official outdoor drama of Virginia.

The Southwest Virginia Museum Historical State Park is located in the downtown area in the former home of C. Bascom Slemp.

Construction and maintenance of the facility generated millions of dollars for the local economy, suppressed from a sagging history of coal mining.

[23] Adriana Trigiani, who wrote the script for the movie Big Stone Gap, lobbied to have the 2014 film shot on location.

The former gas station that was the setting for Carmine's restaurant in the movie still contains the soda fountain, tables and nostalgic wall posters used during filming.