During the Great Depression of the 1930s, ninety-nine subsistence communities were built as part of the New Deal to provide relief to unemployed families stranded in impoverished communities across the country. Three of those communities were built in West Virginia. One of them, the Tygart Valley Homestead, was developed right along US Route 219 in […]
A rainy Christmas parade was held in Marlinton this past Friday, December 6, but lots of folks around Pocahontas County still made it out to enjoy the bands, floats, firetrucks, treats, and craft show at the opera house. Traveling 219 made it out to record the sounds of the night, and put together this audio […]
Eighteen miles south of Elkins, in Randolph County, lies the town of Huttonsville. Huttonsville sits in the Tygart Valley, where the historic Route 250–the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike–and route 219 meet. “The town of Huttonsville was named in honor of the Hutton family. Before the war the village was the educational center of the county. Until the […]
The McNeel Mill at Mill Point, which is being restored today by local resident Matt Tate, 150 years after it was first constructed in this once bustling little West Virginia mountain town. If you’ve driven U.S. Route 219 through Mill Point,you’ve probably seen the old McNeel Mill, which has stood down on Stamping Creek since […]
In 2012, the Traveling 219 Project featured a story about beloved Hillsboro resident, Norma Mikesell, and the inspiration she gave to those around her. In January, 2013, Norma Mikesell passed away at the age of 92. To honor Norma, who meant so much to so many, here is Emma’s story about Norma, as well as […]
In the days before Wal-Mart, the general store was a fixture of most rural communities, like those along Route 219. Here was your post office, grocery store, gas station, and hardware store. Listen as Bill and Richard Hefner talk about their family’s general store in Mill Point. Meandering through the Allegheny Mountains, US Route 219 […]
“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 […]
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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“US 219 by-passes the center of the city, which lies (L) across a small shallow stream, the North Fork of the Blackwater River.”- West Virginia Writers’ Project.
Many characters are remembered to have left their mark upon these slanted streets, especially during the years when Thomas was a busy coal town and trading center for surrounding mines.
Click to here to hear stories of Thomas…
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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