Emily Newton moved to Pocahontas County WV in 2009. Before Newton settled in West Virginia, she was touring the country as professional puppeteer after studying “Placed-Based Theatre” at The Dell Arte’ International School of Physical Ensemble Theatre. Newton’s years in theatre have taught her the importance of truthful storytelling and the necessity of communication and “the shared experience”.
When she is not interviewing or researching for The 219 Project, Emily can be found teaching tumbling at the local elementary school, writing plays with middle school students inspired by community topics, or on the road for a quick tour of a puppet show.
“Our cheeks are rosy and our eyeballs are dry in their sockets from the heat of the kerosene lamps, giving the only light to our conversations.” –2012, interviewer Emily Newton remembers from her visits to Pleasant Valley Maryland. “Only one group of early Maryland settlers has descendants who have never given up their distinguishing customs: These are […]
Buttercups and buttered-bread mark the town of Frankford. Founded in 1769, Frankford was the first settlement west of the Allegheny Mountains. The town was once a trading center; now it is well known for a bakery, offering an old-time treat: breads baked according to traditional recipes of the region.
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Renick was settled by William Renick and Captain Robert McClanahan in 1769. When the train still ran, it was a major agricultural trading center. In the early 1900s Renick was home to one of the first creameries in the area. Here they processed milk for the local farms even in the hardest of times, when there was no bridge and they had to ferry the milk across the Greenbrier River on a boat.
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Most families in the town of Valley Head were rooted to the timber. Logs fell during the day and the town really came to life at night. George Swecker, whose childhood home doubled as the town doctor’s office years ago, recalls men coming in with “their entrails in their hands,” wounded from a rough night out in town. As he puts it, “it was just like the wild west”.
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“There were enough kids for two baseball teams.”
The community here was once filled with running creeks, fertile farmland and the sound of baseball bats cracking on a Sunday afternoon.
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Click the map to download a high-resolution copy of the Traveling 219 map, or pick up a hard copy at one of many locations along U.S. Route 219. You may also view our interactive map of Traveling 219 stories [HERE].
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