Blood, Trauma, and Biohazard Cleanup in Merrimac, VA

Merrimac is a census-designated place (CDP) in Montgomery County, Virginia, lying between the towns of Blacksburg and Christiansburg.

According to the 2020 census, Merrimac had a population of 2,858, up from 2,133 in 2010 and 1,751 in 2000.

The 2000 census counted 889 households in Merrimac, when the CDP was considerably smaller than it is today.

Merrimac covers 1.8 square miles, all of it land, and is part of the Blacksburg–Christiansburg Metropolitan Statistical Area.

According to local tradition preserved by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, Merrimac was named for the famed Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia — originally the USS Merrimack — because coal from the area's mines was used to fuel the warship during the Civil War.

A post office called Merrimac Mines operated in the community from 1904 until 1935.

In 1902 the Virginia Anthracite Coal and Railroad Company opened a large commercial mine at Merrimac and named it in honor of the ironclad; the mining community soon had a hotel, a general store, and about 150 miners.

Rail service was extended from Merrimac into Blacksburg in 1904, and the slow train was nicknamed the 'Huckleberry' because passengers on its long curves could step off, pick huckleberries, and reboard on the other side.

The Merrimac mine closed in the 1930s, but its site is preserved as the Coal Mining Heritage Park, a roughly 30-acre park opened in 2000 with a mining tipple site, artifacts, and the 1.5-mile Coal Mining Loop Trail along the Huckleberry Trail between Blacksburg and Christiansburg.

Two Merrimac properties, the Linkous-Kipps House and the Montgomery Primitive Baptist Church, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.