Stonega is a Census-designated place and coal town located in Wise County, Virginia, United States.

[5] Stonega was founded by J.K. Taggart in 1895 as "Pioneer," a name chosen because it was the first commercial mine and coking plant in Wise County.

[6] The name was changed in 1896 to reflect the town's proximity to Stone Gap, a pass through the mountains between Virginia and Kentucky.

Built using local timber, Pioneer straddled the flat bottom land of the creek between Bluff Spur and Nine Mile Spur Mountains, which offered narrow, winding land on which to construct the upper coke ovens, railroad tracks, homes and service buildings needed by such a remote community.

By 1896, the new colliery or coal mine opened and was renamed Stonega, a contraction of Stone and Gap.