Buttercups and buttered-bread mark the town of Frankford. Founded in 1769, Frankford was the first settlement west of the Allegheny Mountains. The town was once a trading center; now it is well known for a bakery, offering an old-time treat: breads baked according to traditional recipes of the region.
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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.
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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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