In spring, heavy fogs frequently shroud the mountaintops or fill the valleys like a ghostly sea. There’s the sound of spring peepers in Canaan Valley by night, while music pours from the Purple Fiddle in Thomas.
by Matt Wilson Silver Lake is a small community located in the southeastern part of Preston County near the West Virginia-Maryland border. The community is named for a man-made lake of the same name, which is located within a private campground in the community. Built in 1928, the lake is retained by a small concrete […]
photo of the Alleycats outside the Delmonte in Elkins, by Bill King. The Tribble’s house stands out from the street because of the solar panels on the roof, and because even from outside you can hear the sound of 16-year-old Walter King warming up his fiddle. Beside him stands Nevada Tribble, with long, straight red […]
You can zoom in and out of this map and click & drag it to move around and explore it. Click on the different colored markers for more information on that particular civil war site. Timeline of Events in West Virginia during the Civil War along or near U.S. Route 219. 1861: June 3, […]
About a year ago, a new historical marker sign went up in front of the Tucker County Court House, in Parsons, West Virginia along U.S. Route 219. The sign commemorates an exceptional story in West Virginia history, when a brave African American school teacher stood up to her local school board and sued them for […]
1906 was a tough year for Charles Darwin Gillespie. Gillespie, an infamous saloon owner and liquor runner was being sued for $20,000, a fortune at the time. It was only ten years earlier that Charles Darwin Gillespie left Virginia in a pair of dusty boots, a derby hat, and his only black suit. He arrived […]
Over the next twenty years, most people who still know the art of clock repair will pass away, leaving the world millions of antique clocks in need of regular winding and repair. On Dec 12, Doyle Kisner, a clock repairman from Tucker County, will turn 90 years old. For the past two and half years, […]
Most West Virginians and Marylanders aren’t aware they share one of the most famously contested state borders in the country. If you’re driving along US Route 219 in Tucker Co, West Virginia, near the Maryland line, you’re bound to pass by the turnoff for the Fairfax Stone Historical Monument State Park, which lies at the […]
Today, driving along US Route 40 in Garrett County, Maryland, it’s hard to miss the multitude of historic structures: inns, taverns, and log cabins built in the 1700s and 1800s still proudly stand along the road, a testament to the rich history that has followed this route for centuries. It was once known as Nemacolin’s […]
The Traveling 219 Project continues its Maryland series, at a place where US route 219 becomes part of a major interstate i-68, in the northern part of Garrett County. This also happens to be where rt. 219 crosses rt. 40 the historic National Road, the first federally funded road in the country, built back in […]
The ballad of Omie Wise has been sung many times. It has been included in Jim Comstock’s West Virginia Songbag, sung by Maggie Hammons and other West Virginian ballad singers.3 Some say that Naomi Wise, or Omie Wise, of ballad fame is actually from Randolph County, WV: I’ll tell you the story about little Naomi […]
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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