Coalwood is an unincorporated coal town in McDowell County, West Virginia, United States.

The town is the setting of Homer Hickam's best-selling 1998 memoir Rocket Boys, as well as its 1999 film adaptation, October Sky.

[5] In 1980, the Olga Coal Company was bought by the LTV Corporation which closed Coalwood's mine in 1986.

Commemorating both events, an actor from the movie October Sky, Scott Miles, attended the festival to sign autographs.

After weeks of conversations between the parties it was agreed that the 2012 Rocket Boys/October Sky Festival would be held in Beckley with many events taking place on the grounds of the Exhibition Coal Mine at New River Park on October 5–7.