What do the Carter Family music group, Francis Gary Powers and Daniel Boone have in common?

The legendary country musicians, U-2 pilot shot down over Russia and the frontiersman all have connections to Virginia's coal country. That made them eligible for honors on a new Southwest Virginia Walk of Fame in Big Stone Gap.

The 23 initial inductees -- some of whom are still living -- were honored at a ceremony unveiling the walk featuring engraved tiles on the grounds of the Southwest Virginia Museum. The porcelain tiles are fashioned the resemble the native limestone and sandstone used in the late 19th-century house where the museum is located. Ewing said the idea for the walk came from Virginia Beach, which has a Virginia Legends Walk honoring people from all over the state. The coalfields pathway is restricted to people who were either born or spent at least five formative or creative years in the coalfield counties of Lee, Wise, Scott, Dickenson, Russell, Buchanan and Tazewell and the city of Norton.

Southwest Virginia Museum: www.swvamuseum.org.