Before white pioneers settled these mountains, the road that is today US Route 219 was a major pathway used by different Indian nations and was known as the Seneca Trail. Historic museums in Beverly, Marlinton, Lewisburg and Union tell of the unsettled memories of Civil War battles fought along these hills, the historic healing springs that once brought thousands of wealthy tourists to this region, and the logging camps that made communities along the new railroad lines flourish briefly at the dawn of the 20th century.
The John Wesley Methodist Church in Lewisburg was built in 1820 and continues to hold services. It is located on E. Foster Street and is one of the oldest brick churches in West Virginia. As was common at the time, the John Wesley Methodist Church was built with a second story slave gallery, and today […]
Bear hunting is a long running tradition in the mountains along US 219. It started more than 200 years ago, when farmers began to run sheep on their hill farms and the native black bear discovered a new food source. In the old days the mountains rang with the baying of dogs on a […]
Bear hunting is a long running tradition in the mountains along US 219. It started more than 200 years ago, when farmers began to run sheep on their hill farms and the native black bear discovered a new food source. Nowadays bear hunting is a high tech sport, with radio tracking systems, GPS, and CB […]
The Monroe County Historical Society has begun the construction of a home in Union for their carriage collection. Inspired by the Greenbrier Historical Society’s Wagon House in Lewisburg, the 1000 square feet Gothic Revival style building will be large enough to accommodate five horse drawn vehicles. The ground has been leveled, the concrete floor has […]
The ghost town of old Watoga lies almost hidden, just feet from the Greenbrier River Trail about 2.5 miles north of Seebert. Watoga was originally a sawmill town of the Watoga Lumber Company during the logging boom in the area in the early 1900s. In the 1920s, an African-American organization from Mercer County, West Virginia banded […]
“We command you to visit the sick, relieve the distressed, bury the dead, and educate the orphan” – seal of the Independent Order of the Odd Fellows (IOOF). For part two click here. We came across this video while researching the history of Elkins. It tells the story of James Blevin, who grew up in […]
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 […]
On Wednesday November 6, 2013 a monument was dedicated to the soldiers killed in action at the Battle of Droop Mountain in 1863, during the Civil War. The monument was part of the sesquicentennial events held at the park, which included a 27 mile hike following the route of Confederate Soldiers from Lewisburg, W. Va. […]
Last week, while archivists at the Greenbrier Historical Society and North House Museum were sorting through one of the collection boxes, this coin was uncovered. The coin, along with seven other similar coins all with differentiating values, has the archivists at the North House Museum wanting to learn more, and they are looking for your […]
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 […]
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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