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Author Archive: Roxy

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".

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Allegheny Trail

Allegheny Trail

July 11, 2012 |

The Allegheny Trail is a backpacking and mountain bike trail that runs 330 miles along some of the most breathtaking mountaintops in the Allegheny and the Ridge and Valley Ranges in West Virginia. Most of its access points are within a few miles of US 219, and it follows a similar path through dense Mountain […]

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Sweet Springs Mint Julep Recipe

Sweet Springs Mint Julep Recipe

July 11, 2012 |

The West Virginia Heritage Encyclopedia, edited by Jim Comstock, boasts the famous Sweet Springs recipe for mint juleps: “While the mint juleps may not have originated at Sweet Springs, although some claim it did, the Sweet Springs recipe is generally regarded as one of the best. It stipulates to the mixologist: 1. Put into a […]

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Transcript: The Blue Bubbling Water

Transcript: The Blue Bubbling Water

July 11, 2012 |

The Blue Bubbling Water: Remembering Sweet Springs with Pauline Baker, narrated by Roxy Todd [the sound of bubbling spring water, music, “Take the A Train, by Duke Ellington”] Pauline: I was born at Sweet Springs, June 29th, 1910. We used to go up to the ballroom, there’s a beautiful ballroom there. We’d go up there […]

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Chenoweth Bridge

Chenoweth Bridge

June 11, 2012 |

“We took them up the highway, over the old covered bridge.”- Don Rice, of Elkins, remembering driving cattle over the Chenoweth Bridge. Many local people who grew up in Beverly or Elkins remember the old Beverly Bridge, built by Lemuel Chenoweth in 1846-1847. Chenoweth was a local carpenter and a self-educated engineer who grew up in Beverly and built many wooden covered bridges, including the famous landmark of Barbour County, the Phillipi Covered Bridge. He is buried at the Beverly Cemetery.

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Rhododendron

Rhododendron

May 29, 2012 |

During May and early June, the state flower of West Virginia bursts forth with exuberant zeal throughout the forests near US 219. Also known as “Big Laurel”, these clustered flowers of pink, white and purple are an early bloom throughout the lush Allegheny Highlands. Rhododendrons have thick, rubbery evergreen leaves, and in some places can […]

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Blackwater Falls

Blackwater Falls

May 29, 2012 |

“Here the waters of Blackwater River drop over a broken ledge to dash among large boulders 63 feet below, whence they continue their rushing foaming course down Blackwater Canyon. A footpath leads (L) among thickets of laurel and hemlock to a clearing with a fine view of the rugged beauty of the falls and canyon.”- West Virginia Writers’ […]

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Edray

Edray

May 24, 2012 |

“Edray occupied the Site of Fort Drinnen, a small stockade named for Thomas Drinnen, who settled here in 1774. His cabin was attacked by Indians, his wife killed, and his little son taken captive. Drinnen joined General Lewis’s expedition against the Indians, fought in the Battle of Point Pleasant, and after the war wandered through the […]

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Graceland

Graceland

May 13, 2012 |

The historic Graceland mansion of Elkins was named in honor of the young Grace Davis, who was the daughter of Senator Henry Gassaway Davis, a millionaire who co-founded the city of Elkins. Graceland was built as a Victorian style vacation home for the Davis family around 1894.

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Pink Lady Slipper

Pink Lady Slipper

May 13, 2012 |

Possibly the most prized of all West Virginia wildflowers, the Pink Lady’s Slipper is an orchid that grows wild in cool, bog-like forests throughout the state. This wild orchid is named because its enormous pink flower somewhat resembles a moccasin or a slipper. Its solitary flower hunches timidly against the light, uncurling from between two thick green and glossy leaves.

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Panther Series: Kennison Mountain Panther?

Panther Series: Kennison Mountain Panther?

May 3, 2012 |

A long black tail, yellow eyes, a scream in the woods at night…
There are more than 300,000 acres of National Forest in Pocahontas County, WV. Many people say that panthers still live in these woods, from the high peaks of the Allegheny ridgeline to the Cranberry Wilderness with miles and miles of unspoiled forests, there’s plenty of room to roam, that’s for sure.
Click here to have a listen…

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