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.
Another audio story in the Greenbrier Episcopal School series, featuring students from Birch Graves’ class. Here are Wyatt Bair, Bronwyn McMahan O’Shea, Alex Casto talking about the projects they researched for their social studies class: Shanklin’s Grand Theatre in Ronceverte, O’Shea’s All About Beauty in Lewisburg, and the Ginkgo Tree in Lewisburg. We’ll be posting […]
World War Two Veteran Sherman Beard remembers flying over Europe as a B-24 pilot in the last months of the war. Sherman was stationed in Foggia, Italy in 1945, where he flew 35 missions over Europe. Traveling 219 interviewed him recently about his experiences, and put this piece together in commemoration of Veterans Day. Sherman […]
The Traveling 219 Project teamed up with classes at the Greenbrier Episcopal School in Lewisburg this school year to bring local history and folklore into the classroom. Here is Elsa Howell and Zoe Hinkey, retelling the story of the Greenbrier Ghost, or the haunting of Elva Zona Heaster, which they researched and turned into cranky […]
Dr. Jerry Bruce Thomas, author of An Appalachian New Deal, was interviewed by Jessie Wright Mendoza, who produced this audio piece “An Almost Perfect State.” To read the WV Guide online, click here. Or to jump right to Tour 8, which follows the same path as the Traveling 219 Project along US 219, click here. The Federal Writers’ Project in […]
He would write on a green Oliver typewriter, seated on a child-sized armchair with rollers at the bottom. Each day he would write, hour after hour, facing the trains that rushed past him on their way to the Blackwater Canyon. He’d write a poem and if he didn’t like it he would crumple it up, start over again. Day after day. Often, he would drink. It didn’t take but a few beers to drown him because Karl Dewey Myers never weighed more than 60 pounds.
“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.
It’s the year 1935. The Hemlock forest near Aurora 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. Most visitors would pass by this site without knowing it, and truthfully one probably wouldn’t be able to find the original hand-built cabins without a local guide.
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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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