Sometime between 1810 and 1830, the Black Heath pits were worked out and abandoned, later having disastrous consequences for the Black Heath house. Later, the nearby Maidenhead pits were known as the Black Heath pits as a result of the association with the Heth coal mining company, the Black Heath Company of Colliers. This company was the idea of the three living members of a four man partnership set up by Harry Heth before his death in 1821. These men, Beverley Randolph, his brother-in-law John Heth, and Heth's younger brother Beverley, petitioned the Virginia General Assembly on January 25, 1832, for the first coal mining corporation to be chartered in Virginia. After substantial opposition to the concept, this was accomplished the following year on February 20, 1833, with the incorporation of the Black Heath Company of Colliers. All of these men had experience in the coal trade. In 1827, Beverley Randolph had also been one of the organizers of the Chesterfield Railroad, a 12-mile gravity line built from Falling Creek to Manchester for the purpose of transporting coal to ships in the navigable portion of the James River for export. Opened in 1831, it was the first commercial railroad in Virginia and second in the United States.