Blue Heron, also known as Mine 18, is a former coal mining community or coal town on the banks of the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River in McCreary County, Kentucky, United States, that has been recreated and is maintained as an interpretive history area in the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area.

Some of the original structures have been replicated as open, metal shells of buildings, referred to as "ghost structures," on the approximate sites of the original buildings.

Structures include a railroad depot, a full-scale model of the coal tipple, a school, and homes.

Photographic exhibits and audio programs in the ghost structures tell about various aspects of life in the isolated mining community.

This McCreary County, Kentucky state location article is a stub.