- Coastal Lumber will close, laying off 350 in four states. Based in Charlottesville, VA, Coastal Lumber says it is the largest hardwood sawmill east of the Mississippi River

Shutting down its sawmills and log concentration yards as a result of the prolonged housing construction downturn, the closure ends Coastal Lumber's stature as one of the country’s largest exporters of forest products.

The third generation privately-held Coastal Lumber Company drew green lumber from more than 300,000 acres of family-owned timberland providing customers with year-round supply.

West Virginia workers at Coastal Lumber affected by the company-wide shut down were being provided with job counseling, unemployment and access to funding for retraining at meetings in Aurora, WV. “Our goal is to help people move on to the next step in their lives and get them back into the workforce as quickly as possible,” said Russell Fry, acting executive director of WorkForce West Virginia.