Roxy Todd has been working with the 219 Project since October, 2011, when she began working as a VISTA volunteer. Prior to this project, Roxy has worked as a teacher, a massage therapist, and a farm worker. She graduated from Warren Wilson College in 2005. In 2006 she wrote and directed a rock opera with Patrick Seick called "Osama Baby", and she has just finished writing her first novel, "The Girl in the Glass".
About a year ago, a new historical marker sign went up in front of the Tucker County Court House, in Parsons, West Virginia along U.S. Route 219. The sign commemorates an exceptional story in West Virginia history, when a brave African American school teacher stood up to her local school board and sued them for […]
Judy and Warren Ellison celebrated their 70th anniversary last year. Click play to listen to the radio story, or download the story for later. 89-year-old Warren Ellison has been farming in Monroe County since he returned home from World War II. Over lunch at the Ellison farm, Traveling 219’s Roxy Todd recorded Warren talking about […]
The small town of Richwood, West Virginia once had a booming lumber and coal economy, but since the 1980s most of the jobs in town have left the area, as have 42% of the population. Every dollar is needed here, and the town relies on its annual Feast of the Ramson to help rejuvenate the […]
It’s earth day- and today many self-proclaimed ramp lovers in urban cities across the country are celebrating this third week of April and the height of ramp season. Thousands will sit down to a table for dinner, probably at a restaurant in Brooklyn or Chicago and eat their fill of ramps, which pair well with other seasonal spring vegetables like peas and asparagus and also grill very nicely.
They will feast on what many chefs and Appalachian foragers have known for generations-ramps are magical. Or if not that, then they are deliciously repulsive, aromatically stinky, little feisty green onions. If ever a vegetable merited an oxymoron, it’s ramps.
This recipe comes from an expert Salt Rising Bread baker Susan Brown, who grew up in Greenbrier County. Susan is working to research the history of Salt Rising Bread, along with another baker, Jenny Bardwell, who owns a bakery in Mt. Morris, Pennsylvania. Susan’s starter, or “raisin,” as she calls it, uses fewer ingredients than […]
photo by Mike Costello On Saturday, April 26th the town of Richwood, West Virginia will serve 2,000 pounds of wild ramps, along with bacon, potatoes, cornbread and sassafras tea. Richwood prides itself as being the “Ramp Capitol of the World”, and its Feast of the Ramson Festival is the oldest ongoing ramp celebration in the […]
It’s the first week of April, and here along the Allegheny ridges the peepers have emerged. Spring peepers, for those who don’t know, are small frogs that exchange a choral mating serenade in the night, or just after a light rain. The sound is something stranger than birds and louder than crickets. For those who […]
Last weekend the isolated Randolph county town of Pickens drew a couple thousand visitors to eat at the annual Maple Syrup Festival. About 45 gallons of fresh West Virginia Maple Syrup were consumed in two days at the Pickens pancake breakfasts. After I grabbed a plate of buckwheat pancakes and sausage, I met up with […]
High above the farmed and forested valleys below, a weight lifts from the shoulders of almost every traveler upon entering the Highland Scenic Highway, nestled atop Elk and Cranberry Mountains. Suitable for leisurely drivers, hikers, mountain bikers and backpackers, and worthwhile for any traveler interested in seeing one of the most enchanting mountain highways in the country. The Scenic Highway has access to scenic overlooks and the birthplace of the pristine Williams and Cranberry Rivers.
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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