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".
Last fall, a friend named Mike came to visit Pocahontas County on his red BMW motorcycle. Emily the adventurous one asked Mike for a ride, and I followed in my car, and the three of us adventured onto the Highland Scenic Highway. Shadowed by giant red spruce trees and honeycomb rocks, we stopped at one […]
Friday evening of September 29, 2012, I recorded an interview with Dixie Lee Hoke, in Monroe County. Neither of us realized it at the time, but September 29th was the 23rd anniversary of her uncle Aubrey’s death. I’ve heard too much about this Aubrey not to wish with all my heart that I’d been able […]
FROM THE ARCHIVES of the West Virginia Writers’ Project, Greenbrier County: “I was plowing on General Davis’s farm in 1856, unsuspicious of being on insecured ground when suddenly the earth seemed to fall beneath me. I saw the horses descending, but was too frightened to let go the plow handles. When I landed, I fell […]
FROM THE ARCHIVES of the West Virginia Writers’ Project, Tucker County: The City of Rivers ** Here, where two rivers, born of highland springs, Wed to beget another, greater still, And where peace hovers on untroubled wings Amidst the song of factory and mill, ** Here, […]
Pocahontas Woods is a non- profit educational center in downtown Marlinton. Work is showcased and sold at multiple galleries in Lewisburg, Thomas, Beckley, and Snowshoe W.Va. as well as online. Mike Hefner, a 34-year-old former construction worker learns wood-craftsmanship after a life changing injury. Six years ago, he began volunteering at Pocahontas Woods in Marlinton, […]
Don Olson produces maple syrup on his 75-acre farm. At 7 a.m. the air around the farm in Blue Rock, W.Va. is filled with a sweet aroma. The scent comes from the small 27 by 21 feet sugarhouse where Olson is already sitting, preparing for the day’s syrup production. The Olsons’ Blue Rock Farm in […]
The Great Depression and THE guidebook of West Virginia The book featured in the photo to the left is called West Virginia: A Guide to the Mountain State, published by the West Virginia Writers’ Project in 1941. It was written over seventy years ago during the Great Depression, and though most local libraries own a […]
“US Route 219, known in West Virginia as the Seneca Trail…. …Closely follows the section of the Warriors Road that crossed the State. The route traversed a region known in the early history of Virginia as West Augusta, which in the dark days of the Revolution is said to have inspired George Washington to […]
Youghiogheny Forest Colony It’s the year 1935. The Hemlock forest outside Aurora, WV is full of laughter, and music. Through the snowy trees a cabin is aglow, with about 12 people gathered inside. This was the Youghiogheny Forest Colony. Viola: Oh they had weird theories, like it was a camp of nudists, which it never […]
“Only one group of early Maryland settlers has descendants who have never given up their distinguishing customs: These are the Amish living near Grantsville in Garrett County. The German-Swiss Amishmen, Mennonite fundamentalists, came to Maryland from Pennsylvania during the eighteenth century. Like their forefathers, they scorn participation in government. Amish clothing is always fastened with […]
Welcome back to Traveling 219! The Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area is proud to be the successor organization to all the great work that was done by the Pocahontas Communications Cooperative and other Partners a decade ago on this project. We are currently updating the website and look forward to reengaging with the stories of the people and places that we discover Traveling 219. If you have any feedback on the project, or would like to get involved, please reach out to us at [email protected]. Feel free to report to us any broken links or other out of date content as you explore our site!
Located in the historic Darden Mill in Elkins, WV the Appalachian Forest Discovery Center invites you to explore the Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area’s rich cultural and forest heritage. Through its engaging exhibits and knowledgeable staff, the Discovery Center acts as a welcome center for the AFNHA where you can get information about other forest heritage sites in the region.
ON DISPLAY NOW
Seneca Trail: Native Travel through the Appalachian Forest
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].
by Matt Wilson Silver Lake is a small community located in the southeastern part of Preston County near the West Virginia-Maryland border. The community is named for a man-made lake of the same name, which is located within a private campground in the community. Built in 1928, the lake is retained by a small concrete […]
Young Elkins Musicians Help Revive Old Time Music
photo of the Alleycats outside the Delmonte in Elkins, by Bill King. The Tribble’s house stands out from the street because of the solar panels on the roof, and because even from outside you can hear the sound of 16-year-old Walter King warming up his fiddle. Beside him stands Nevada Tribble, with long, straight red […]
Civil War Sites Along (and near) U.S. Rt. 219
You can zoom in and out of this map and click & drag it to move around and explore it. Click on the different colored markers for more information on that particular civil war site. Timeline of Events in West Virginia during the Civil War along or near U.S. Route 219. 1861: June 3, […]
The 1892 Civil Rights Case of Coketon, West Virginia
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 […]
1906 was a tough year for Charles Darwin Gillespie. Gillespie, an infamous saloon owner and liquor runner was being sued for $20,000, a fortune at the time. It was only ten years earlier that Charles Darwin Gillespie left Virginia in a pair of dusty boots, a derby hat, and his only black suit. He arrived […]
The stories and programs of Traveling 219 are made possible by generous support the Pocahontas County Free Libraries, as well as the following partners.
